Pokésouls
by KiwiWizard
Summary: OC submission fic. Submissions are closed. Sometimes, there is a child born on the same day, at the very same second as a Pokémon is hatched. Something about this occurrence connects the two in a deep psychic way. They are able to hear each other's thoughts, see through each other's eyes and even use each other's skills. These people are called Pokésouls.
1. Character Index

**GO TO NEXT CHAPTER FOR STORY**

**Submissions are closed**

This is the list of the characters in the story and is where I am putting the character credits. Thanks to all the people who submitted :)

* * *

This is my main character. I'll have other minor characters as well, but I'm not going to list them here:

Name: Pecha  
Age: 18  
Gender: female  
Personality: An upbeat girl who looks on the bright side of things.  
Companion Pokémon: Luxray

* * *

These are submissions:  
(I've only put short descriptions of the characters because I don't want to make this page ridiculously long and some things I want to reveal in story)

Name: Volke Hellsén  
Age: 19  
Gender: male  
Personality: Seen by those that don't know him as someone who doesn't talk much and a loner, but to his friends he's a nice guy  
Companion Pokémon: Rotom  
Creator: StattStatt

* * *

Name: Lucinda Frodos  
Age: 22  
Gender: Female  
Occupation: Mercenary  
Personality: A person whose main priority is herself, and what she cares about  
Pokémon Team: Ditto, Zorua, Drillbur, Staraptor  
Companion Pokémon: Not a Pokésoul  
Creator: StattStatt

* * *

Name: Eclipse  
Age: 17  
Gender: Male  
Personality: Eclipse is a distant and cold person, who, since finding out that he was a Pokésoul, disliked the idea from the beginning.  
Companion Pokémon: Zoroark  
Other Pokémon: Honchcrow, Greninja, Bisharp, Hydreigon, Malamar  
Creator: Amy47101

* * *

Name: Starlight Sutā  
Age: 16  
Gender: Female  
Personality: Is rather laid back. She never really cared for the idea of leaving her hometown, and prefers to stay at home.  
Companion Pokémon: Gardevoir  
Other Pokémon: Mawile, Absol, Medicham, Charizard, Scizor  
Creator: Amy47101

* * *

Name: Wyvrn  
Age: 17  
Gender: Male  
Personality: A slightly insane man who enjoys hurting others  
Companion Pokémon: Kadabra  
Creator: LightvsDark99

* * *

Name: Christina Oak  
Age: 13  
Gender: Female  
Occupation: Works at the power plant  
Personality: Christina's kind and cheerful, but when she's around people she doesn't know, she acts dull and mean. But soon, opens up to them. She does things without thinking, and can be very straightforward in a bad way.  
Pokémon Team: Flygon  
Companion Pokémon: Not a Pokésoul  
Creator: IlyPikachuu

* * *

Name: Zyra  
Age: 14  
Gender: female  
Personality: Outgoing, friendly, intelligent, suspicious/remains aware of surroundings  
Companion Pokémon: Darkfire (Umbreon)  
Other Pokémon: Treeko, Butterfree, Parasect, Teddiursa, Cranidos  
Creator: Mweep

* * *

Name: Gina  
Age: 15 (almost 16)  
Gender: Female  
Personality: She can be scary at times, but inside she's a really sweet girl that cares once you get to know her, she can sometimes be serious and is dense when it comes to love, people don't know her talents  
Creator: EllieXDreams

* * *

Name: Christopher Xanatos  
Age: 16  
Gender: male  
Personality: jokes around about his situation and acts sarcastic around those he doesn't trusts, but around those he does he's cold calculating and to the point especially if there going into a dangerous situation  
Companion Pokémon: Vieara (Sneasel)  
Creator: negimafanman

* * *

Name: Mira Lee  
Age: 15  
Gender: female  
Personality: She is soft-spoken, however she can speak up whenever it is needed. She is gentle and is very good at interpreting other's emotions. Also, she is prone to expressing her emotions to the fullest.  
Companion Pokémon: Kira (Kirlia)  
Other Pokémon: Togetic, Lucario  
Creator: Musical2day

* * *

Name: Nami Salem  
Age: 17  
Gender: Female  
Personality: Shy, kind, creative, open-minded, observant, and caring. Usually doesn't like to talk much, but is always there for someone in trouble.  
Companion Pokémon: Yuki (Frosslass)  
Other Pokémon: Glaceon  
Creator: PokeFreak45

* * *

Name: Blake Salem  
Age: 19  
Gender: Male  
Personality: Aggressive, laid-back, thoughtful, gullible and funny. Often takes things too seriously and hates it when people talk back to him  
Companion Pokémon: Ren (Houndoom)  
Other Pokémon: Flareon  
Creator: PokeFreak45

* * *

Name: Sky Mayfly  
Age: 14  
Gender: Female  
Occupation: Assassin/Thief  
Personality: Smart-ass, sarcastic, loves to banter, can be protective of any friends she may or may not have, brave and willing to kill anything to get what she wants, bit arrogant  
Companion Pokémon: Locke (Scyther)  
Other Pokémon: Ditto  
Creator: PokeSpeBanette

* * *

Name: Kai Akiyama  
Age: 16  
Gender: Female  
Occupation: Informant for the Guardian Force  
Personality: if you really get to know her, Kai is a manipulative (although nice) person, always dragging the group into some kind of situation  
Companion Pokémon: Not a Pokésoul  
Creator: imafangirlforever

* * *

Name: Liliana Icarus  
Age: 14  
Gender: Female  
Personality: She is a tomboyish, sarcastic, and aggressive girl, but she is also kind and witty and deeply cares for her friends and Pokémon.  
Companion Pokémon: Percy (Samurott)  
Other Pokémon: Hydreigon, Glaceon, Gardevoir, Zoroark, Arcanine  
Creator: Great Lady Lucina

* * *

Name: Nevin Westfield  
Age:15  
Gender: Male  
Personality: Nevin is very up beat and refuses to frown and goes as far as to try and spread his joy to those who are sad. Naive is a good word for him because he is very trusting to everyone and considers everyone his friend.  
Companion Pokémon: Typhlosion  
Other Pokémon: Pidgey  
Creator: LinkMaster997

* * *

Name: Kirtus Hendrik  
Age: 17  
Gender: Male  
Occupation: Works at the power plant  
Personality: He always acts sleepy and it's not unusual for him to nod off in the middle of a conversation. Even thought it might not seem so, he is actually very reliable when people ask him to get things done. He is also a very bad liar. A very nice person to anyone.  
Companion Pokémon: Not a Pokésoul  
Pokémon: Crobat, Vaporeon  
Creator: PoisonBanana

* * *

Name: Wolf Winters  
Age: 19  
Gender: Male  
Personality: He is a very curious person that asks a lot of questions, if he opens his mouth, what's most likely to come out is a question. He's a good person that likes to help people out when he can, has a high protective instinct when defending family and friends. His questioning can get a little annoying depending of the person, but sometimes there's a flirty side to his questions when talking to girls  
Companion Pokémon: Silvia (Sylveon)  
Creator: W. R. Winters

* * *

Name: River Mayer  
Age: 16  
Gender: Female  
Occupation: Information Broker  
Personality: She's mischievous, loves to prank, normally replies to any comments with a witty remark, very creative, does whatever she feels like, can think up crazy plans she'll then carry out whenever she's bored.  
Companion Pokémon: Mist (Mismagius)  
Other Pokémon: Vulpix, Garchomp, Togekiss, Lapras, Leafeon  
Creator: Dragon2920

* * *

Name: Preston Rolfe

Age: 22  
Gender: Male  
Occupation: Guardian Force officer  
Personality: Preston tends to be a rather calm and collected individual and somewhat of an intellectual  
Companion Pokémon: Not a Pokésoul  
Pokémon Team: Charizard, Vanilluxe, Venasaur, Blastoise, Plusle, Minun  
Creator: WereDragon EX

* * *

Name: Scarlet Grey  
Age: 22  
Gender: Female  
Personality: Feisty and rather free spirited, Scarlet is somewhat of a tomboy, though she also loves a lot of girly things as well.  
Companion Pokémon: Clarissa (Dragonite)  
Creator: WereDragon EX

* * *

Name: Yunyi Liu  
Age: 10  
Gender: Female  
Personality: Usually quiet but has a patience span of about ten minutes.  
Companion Pokémon: Devoir (Kirlia)  
Creator: HakaiElementalVocaloid

* * *

**Antagonists **

* * *

Name: Alex "Draco" Bender  
Age: 20  
Gender: Male  
Companion Pokémon: Mars (Salamance)  
Creator: UnfitDinosaur

* * *

Name: Erika Zolnerowich  
Age: 26  
Gender: Female  
Companion Pokémon: Soar (Braviery)  
Creator: imafangirlforever

* * *

Name: Xero Adrail  
Age: 18  
Gender: Male  
Companion Pokémon: Acier (Aegislash)  
Creator: PokeFreak45

* * *

Name: Altair-Millenium  
Age: 19  
Gender: Female  
Companion Pokémon: Victini  
Creator: Amy47101


	2. A Journey Begins

**Author Note:**

**So here's chapter one! I've never done anything like this before so I hope it turned out okay. If you have a problem with how I've written your character, let me know and I'll try to fix it. **

**I'm not going to make a schedule for this fic or anything (I can't keep to them) but I definitely won't update next week because people are visiting. **

**I would also like to say that I am doing this purely for fun; I don't want to be a professional writer or anything so I'd prefer to avoid serious critiques. When people point out all the problems with my writing it makes me want to stop. But if you see any spelling/grammer stuff or plot holes, please point them out!  
**

**Thanks for all the submissions :) I hope you all enjoy the story!  
**

* * *

Chapter 1: A Journey Begins

* * *

The second hand ticked slowly along on the face of the watch. A girl sat on her bed staring at it, trying to force it to go faster with her blue-eyed gaze. The watch stubbornly kept the same time. The girl ran her hands through her dark blue hair in frustration.

She sat on her bed, fully clothed. She wore long brown cargo pants with a pair of slightly darker hiking boots. The pants had been patched several times, none of the patches quite matching the original color or even each other. The boots were in good shape, though the laces had clearly been replaced as they were a loose green color that clashed distractingly with the deep brown of the shoe. They were also a few sizes too big for her, the laces done up tightly to try to make up for it. Her shirt was in much better shape, a simple plain green t-shirt, only slightly frayed at the collar. Her hair matched the rest of her, the edges tattered and not quite even.

_Staring at it won't make it go faster_, a voice commented. The voice belonged to a Luxray who sat at the foot of her bed, watching the girl glare at the watch. The girl's name was Pecha, the Luxray, Zap. Zap's voice wasn't truly a voice at all, but a thought. You see, Pecha was a Pokésoul and Zap her bonded partner. A Pokésoul was a person who was born on the same day, at the same exact second as a Pokémon was hatched. The Pokémon and human are then bound psychically, able to communicate telepathically and share other skills with each other. How and why this phenomena occurs, no one was sure. People had studied it of course, but no one could definitively prove what it was that caused the bond or even the limits of such bonds.

"I know it won't make it go faster," Pecha said to Zap. She spoke aloud, though this was unnecessary. It was simply a habit she picked up as people tended to look at her less oddly if she spoke to her Pokémon aloud.

_Then quit staring at it,_ Zap suggested. Pecha sighed, but complied turning her gaze to the electric Pokémon instead.

She stared at the Pokémon for a few seconds, but quickly grew bored. She knew Zap so well it was like looking at herself, something she didn't bother with often. So she studied the room instead. This took about the same amount of time as the room was practically barren. There was the bed she was sitting on (threadbare and uncomfortable looking), and a chair in the corner. The chair had several leather bags hung across it along with a long brown coat which was clearly made for a man.

She glanced at the clock again.

"It's eleven thirty, can we go already?" Pecha asked impatiently.

_We agreed we would leave town on our eighteenth birthday,_ Zap replied. _That's still half an hour away. _

"Uh, fine," Pecha conceded. She slid off the bed and walked over to the chair. Moving the coat to the side, she picked up one of the bags. The flap lifted up as she examined the items inside, ensuring she had everything.

_We still have everything_, Zap commented sounding annoyed. _You checked earlier today and yesterday. Several times. And the day before that. Also several times. _

"I just want to make sure everything's perfect," Pecha defended. "I don't want us to leave and then end up having to come back here because we forgot something important!"

_We have everything_, Zap reassured. _And even if we do forget something we can just replace it in some other town. There's no need for us to ever come back here. _

The words were a relief to Pecha, even though they had been said before. Pecha and Zap lived in a small town known as Cornflower. The village was ridiculously small, the population certainly didn't exceed thirty, and Pecha had always hated it. She wasn't born there, she and Zap had just shown up one night during the worst hurricane the village had ever seen. Pecha was five at the time. It was assumed she was on a trip with her parents when they got caught in the storm. She couldn't remember much of her life before Cornflower, but this didn't overly bother her. Not anymore. What did bother her was that the people still treated her as a stranger, this was only compounded by her being a Pokésoul as the villagers had never seen such a thing before. They classified Pecha as odd and so tried to have as little to do with her a possible.

When she was twelve, Pecha and Zap made a plan, they would bide their time, save their money, and on their eighteenth birthday, they would leave. The decision to wait until they were eighteen was actually a childish choice, made because it was the same age as a character on their favorite show at the time - Guardian Zeta. Cornflower had a single television which sat in the town square. Every moment she was allowed Pecha would go and watch. It was an escape - proof that there was more to life than her lot in the village. And today, well today was the day before her birthday. But tomorrow, that would be the day she would see the world with her own eyes

She continued going through the bags, checking the food, blankets, tools and her money. All was as it had been the last time she checked. Which was about an hour ago.

Zap sighed, a long obviously contrived sound and stood, shaking herself into awareness. _Fine, it's close enough_. _We can leave now, you're driving me crazy_, Zap said.

"Thank you!" Pecha cried, clinging to the Luxray's neck, who bore it in long-suffering silence.

Pecha closed the bags and hung two of them on Zap's back. Pecha donned her coat and slung the third, smaller, bag over her shoulder. "Let's do this," she said. She opened the door for Zap, then closed it and dropped the keys on the doormat. Someone would find them eventually. Then she swung herself up onto Zap's back and the Pokémon took off.

A few minutes into the run Pecha glanced down at her watch and said, "Happy birthday, Zap."

_Back at you,_ Zap replied.

There was only one road leading away from their town. It was barely visible so seldom was it traveled, but after an hour of so Zap and Pecha reached a true road. This one was well worn, and from the map Pecha had acquired, she knew it was the road between Solaceon and Eterna. Pecha wasn't entirely sure which way led to which, and she also didn't care. What she wanted was to see the world. Where she ended up on this journey didn't matter, not as long as she got to see the world on the way.

Zap began to grow tired of the constant running, so Pecha funneled some of her energy to Zap through their bond. It was a peculiar feeling, the first time, feeling energy simply disappear. Feeling tired without having moved, but she quickly grew accustomed to it. The pair had used this technique very often and it was now second nature to them.

* * *

The hours flew by in a haze of dirt road and gradually brightening sky. Pecha was just thinking it was time for a break when she heard a buzzing sound. Curious she looked upwards.

_Move_! Pecha yelled silently at Zap. Pecha flung herself off the Luxray's back and rolled across the road into the grass. Zap had managed to jump out of the way as well, flinging their bags into the grass where rolls of bread and blankets bounced away.

Their assailant landed where they had just been, blade arms gouging deep marks into the road's surface._ A Scyther_, Pecha realized.

_Move_! Zap yelled in her head. Pecha instinctively rolled to the side, but something sharp still grazed her upper arm and she felt the hot stab of pain. Pecha managed to get her feet under her and glimpsed her attacker. For a moment, she was certain she was hallucinating. The attacker was but a girl, a young girl. And she was holding a knife dark with Pecha's blood looking...bored. The girl's eyes flicked toward Pecha and Pecha's blue eyes locked with the white eyes of the girl. In that moment Pecha knew if she tried to fight, she would lose. No matter how young the girl appeared, she was not to be trifled with.

_Pecha_! Zap yelled, snapping Pecha out of her daze.

_We need to run_, Pecha said. _Use Agility. _

Pecha felt energy fill her veins as Zap did as she asked, sharing the effects of Agility with her. Utilizing the sudden speed Pecha whirled and ran from the girl. She didn't pay much attention to where she was going, just ran feeling the need to put distance between herself and the girl. Pecha ran until her legs gave out beneath her and she collapsed forward into unconsciousness.

* * *

Now that the assailant was standing still it was clear that she really _was_ only a young girl. She had short black hair that clashed with her oddly white eyes. The girl stood with her arms crossed staring off after Pecha's retreating form, but made no move to pursue.

"Sky. What are you doing?" This came from a woman much older than the girl. The woman was also tall in general, so she towered over Sky, almost doubling her height. The girl wore a dark green top and black jeans. A leather belt holding a knife at her side. The most colorful part of her wardrobe - a red scarf tied around her neck.

"Heya Red," Sky said. "I got bored." She shrugged casually. Her Scyther mimicked the expression.

"So you decided to kill someone," the newcomer said.

"No, I just wanted to scare her. If I wanted her dead, she'd be dead. She had no skills. At all, frankly I was embarrassed for her."

The older girl sighed and said, "Do whatever you want. I don't care, just don't mess up our contract. The target is supposed to be here soon."

"Don't be so stuck up Red. You know I always complete my tasks." Sky adopted a confident expression.

"My name's not Red," muttered the woman.

"People call you the Red Neck, don't they?" Sky asked, gesturing at the red scarf hanging around the woman's neck.

"I never asked them too. My name is Lucinda," the woman said irritably.

"This is my problem!" Sky said throwing her hands in the air (they barely reached the level of Lucinda's face). "If you were less boring I wouldn't have to find my own fun."

"Why don't you just talk to Locke," Lucinda said nodding her head at the Scyther.

"I do. Attacking that girl was Locke's idea."

"Of course it was," Lucinda sighed.

"So, what would it take?" Sky asked.

"What would what take?"

"What would I have to do to get you to banter with me? More money?"

"Wait, you want to _pay_ me to banter with you?" Lucinda asked incredulous.

"I have plenty of money," Sky said. "I don't do this because I need cash, I do it because I love it."

"If you were anything other than an assassin that might be a nice sentiment."

"You do assassinations too," Sky pointed out.

"I do what I'm paid to do. Doesn't mean I enjoy it."

"Gah!" Sky exclaimed. "Be more interesting!"

"Sorry my personality bores you," Lucinda said irritably. Lucinda really wondered sometimes why she had teamed up with the little girl assassin. The answer was obvious, working together the two were able to carry out jobs more efficiently than on their own, which ended up meaning more money for Lucinda. But Lucinda wondered sometimes if the money was worth putting up with Sky's irritating attitude. So far every time she'd asked herself that question, the answer was yes and Lucinda really didn't see that changing anytime soon. Asking herself again, and coming up money again, Lucinda sighed, gritted her teeth and said, "If you pay me I'll banter with you."

"Really!" Sky said excitedly. "Cool!" She reached into one of the pouches at her waist and threw a gold coin at Lucinda. Lucinda caught it on reflex and stowed it in her own bag.

"You'll have to explain it to me though. I don't understand how."

"Don't worry," Sky said. "I'm the master and I'll have you being an adequate banterer in no time!" Locke said something to Sky who said, "Locke's right, we should get off the road. Come on Red!"

"My name's not Red..." Lucinda protested half-heartedly as she followed the girl.

The two walked behind some bushes which hid them from the road buy gave them a viewpoint of the road.

"You remember the plan?" Lucinda asked. Sky did of course, but Lucinda enjoyed annoying the younger girl sometimes. At least when she was annoyed she wasn't busy attacking random people.

"Yes!" Sky spat. "It was _my_ plan! Of course I remember!"

"You're going to go out there looking like a tiny hurt girl and while he's distracted I'll grab the statue," Lucinda explained, going over the plan anyway.

"I'm not tiny!" Sky growled.

"And remember, no killing on this one. We get paid extra for no blood."

"Yeah, yeah, I know! I can control myself."

"Sometimes."

"I think I like you better when you don't talk," Sky mused. "No, don't Locke. She's irritating but she _is_ useful."

"...Did Locke just threaten me?" Sky's knife-like smile was answer enough.

Locke clacked its blades together suddenly and the two girls snapped their heads to the road. A wagon bounced along the dirt road pulled by a Rapidash. Atop the wagon flew a flag, a navy blue with the burning visage of a Moltres emblazoned upon it.

"Moltres flag," Lucinda said. "That's the target."

She looked over, but Sky had already left. The young girl timed her run so that she stumble into he road just in front of the wagon. Lucinda had to move so she didn't stay to watch the show, but she'd seen it enough times by now to know how it would play out. Sky would act like a scared, hurt girl, (the opposite of her normal personality) and distract the target long enough for Lucinda to rob them.

Lucinda kept low to the ground, creeping around and approaching the wagon from the back. The information River had given them assured that the man was traveling alone, and while River was the best information broker Lucinda had ever met, even she could be wrong sometimes. It seemed that this was not one of those times however. The wagon was empty and Lucinda could hear the man out front asking Sky (who was emitting exaggerated sobs) if there was anything he could do.

The wagon was empty but for a large, wooden crate which Lucinda made a beeline for. She opened it and picked through the items inside before finding the one she wanted. It was a beautifully crafted statue, made of platinum with red rubies marking the eyes. A great statue of the legendary Pokémon Moltres.

Item acquired, Lucinda took her leave of the wagon, releasing her Ditto, Morph, to signal Sky. Lucinda made her way back to the bushes and waited. A few minutes later she heard wheels and hoof beats as the wagon left. Sky appeared next to her, all signs of fake sadness gone. "Did you get it?" She asked.

"Of course," Lucinda replied, showing the statue.

"Great. Let's get out of here so we can get a job that's more fun. This one was way too easy."

"As long as I get paid I don't care how boring they are," Lucinda said.

"Bleh," Sky said. "You're so boring. Money this, money that, don't you ever just revel in the challenge?"

"Nope."

"You definitely need lessons in banter," Sky sighed. "I have my work cut out for me."

"Looking forward to it," Lucinda replied sarcastically.

"That was better," Sky said. "Not good though."

Lucinda sighed and resigned herself to learning what Sky called the 'art of banter.' At least Sky was generous with her money.

* * *

The haunting sound of a wooden flute filled the air, making the very woods seem as if they were singing. Pokémon flocked towards the sound and fawned over the one creating it. A young girl sat at the base of a tree with a wooden flute pressed to her lips. An Unbreon sat next to her staring warily at the other Pokémon who stared with awestruck expressions at the girl.

The best word to describe the girl was ragged. Her hair was jaggedly cut as if one had taken a knife to it and her clothes were so torn and dirty that they barely classified as such. The larger tears were filled in with leaves and Wurmple thread making her appear a bit like a walking tree. The only recognizable piece of clothing she had on was a belt. On the belt were five Poke Balls and a small knife.

The Pokémon gathered around her adoringly as the girl played for them. She played until she was distracted by the Umbreon. _Zyra_, the Umbreon said through their bond. _Someone is coming._

The girl, Zyra, cocked her head listening for whatever sound it was that had tipped the Umbreon off.

_I don't hear anything_, Zyra replied.

_You will soon._

The Umbreon was proved correct when the sound of crunching leaves, followed by gasping breaths hit Zyra's ears. "Do any of you know who's making that sound?" Zyra asked this of the gathered Pokémon. Zyra herself was unable to understand what they said, despite her incredible rapport with them, her Umbreon, however, could and would translate the answer. The Pokémon jabbered at Zyra who turned to the Umbreon. "What did they say Darkfire?"

_They say it's a girl and a Luxray_, Darkfire replied.

_We should check it out_, Zyra said.

_Can't we just leave them?_

_Don't you want to know what a person is doing here?_

_I don't like meeting new people_, Darkfire complained.

Zyra ignored her Pokémon's complaints and set off towards the sound. Darkfire sighed but followed after her.

Zyra stowed her wooden flute in her bag and made sure her knife was readily available. Zyra was a firm believer in being prepared for anything. She crept, silent as a shadow through the woods. There was a sudden crash, as if something heavy had fallen, and the footsteps stopped.

_It fell? _Zyra theorized.

_Seems likely, _Darkfire agreed. The cat Pokémon ran ahead of the girl, ready to warn her if the intruder proved to be a threat. They found the source of the sound – a girl, out cold on the forest floor. Zyra knelt by her and checked her pulse. It was strong. The only evidence of harm on the girl was a cut on her arm. It looked painful, but it was hardly life-threatening.

"Could someone please get me some Oran berries?" Zyra asked. She didn't direct this question at any Pokémon in particular, they were all her friends and she knew one of them would come through for her. _Who do you think she is? _Zyra asked Darkfire.

_Who cares? _Darkfire replied. _We should just leave her alone. Then she'll go away and leave us alone again. _

_She's hurt! _Zyra protested. _We should help her. _

_This is going to get us in trouble, _Darkfire replied. _I can feel it. _

_It's the right thing to do, _Zyra said with a note of finality. One of the Pokémon of the forest (a Caterpie) returned with some Oran berries. Zyra took the berries from the Caterpie and crushed them into a paste which she spread over the girl's wound. The girl seemed truly exhausted as she didn't even twitch at being touched. Once the wound was fully covered with Oran paste, Zyra took some leaves and bound the wound with the help of some silk thread from the Caterpie. "There," Zyra said proudly.

_Now what? _asked Darkfire.

_Wait for her to wake up I suppose, _Zyra replied.

Zyra took out her wooden flute again and whiled away the time playing upbeat songs for the Pokémon. She tired of this after a while and ate lunch, keeping some of the food aside for the unconscious girl. Judging by how exhausted she was, she'd be ravenous once she awoke.

An hour or so after Zyra had found the girl she finally stirred. "Zap...?" she mumbled.

"Zap?" Zyra repeated in confusion. The girl startled awake suddenly, sitting up so fast she had to catch herself to keep from falling over.

"Who are you?" the girl demanded. "Where is Zap?"

"Who is Zap?" Zyra asked.

"My Luxray," the girl answered. "We must have gotten separated. Her brows creased, then suddenly she relaxed. "She's okay," she said with relief.

"Are you a Pokésoul?" Zyra asked. It was either that or the girl was insane.

"Yes," the girl replied somewhat guardedly.

"I am too," Zyra said. "This is Darkfire, my bonded partner." Zyra patted the Umbreon on the head. "My name is Zyra by the way."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Pecha," the girl introduced.

"Pecha? Like the berry?"

"Yes…Like the berry."

"You were named after a berry?" Zyra asked, laughing slightly.

Pecha's eyes narrowed. "Yes I was," she said defensively. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No. It's just an odd name," Zyra replied soothingly. Footsteps sounded followed by a Luxray who wandered into the area. The Luxray was immediately pounced on by Pecha.

"Zap!"

_She already knew it was okay, _Darkfire said. _Why is she making such a big deal out of it?_

"What are you doing out here in the woods?" Zyra asked after the girl was done reuniting with her Pokémon.

"I was attacked," the girl explained. "Zap and I, we're just on a trip. We want to see the world. But we were attacked on the road and we ran here for cover. I don't think we were followed though."

"You weren't," Zyra informed. "I would know if there was someone else in the woods."

"Uh, why are _you _in the woods?" Pecha asked. "You seem pretty at home here."

"That's because I am. My village was destroyed by raiders when I was a little girl. I've been living her by myself ever since."

"Oh I'm…I'm so sorry," Pecha said sympathetically.

"A lot of people have lost a lot to the raiders," Zyra replied. "You said you are traveling. Would you let me accompany you?"

"Huh?" Pecha said. "You want to come with me? Why? I don't even know where I'm going."

"That's precisely why. I've lived in this forest for most my life, and I love it, but I think it's time I go see what else there is in the world. There is so much I haven't seen yet."

"That's how I feel! Except for the forest part," Pecha said excitedly. "You can come with us, traveling's more fun with more people anyway isn't it?" Her Luxray made a happy sounding bark.

_I disagree with that_, Darkfire muttered.

Zyra ignored her. "Should we go then?" She asked excitedly.

Pecha looked a bit sheepish and said, "I'm going to need a bit of a break before I can travel again. Zap and I exhausted all our energy trying to get away from the crazy girl. We lost all our food too."

Zyra noted the bag slung across the girl's shoulder. "What's in there then?"

"This is the lighter stuff," Pecha replied. "Money, a map, a knife, a few personal items. Everything else we had we lost on the road." She sighed at this.

"I can get us food," Zyra said. "The forest will provide for us."

Pecha seemed to notice her arm for the first time since she had awoken. "Did you do this?" At Zyra's nod the girl continued. "Thank you. It feels a lot better than it did earlier."

"I will gather food," Zyra said. "You and your Luxray should rest."

"Thank you," Pecha said leaning against her Luxray's side and falling asleep almost immediately. Zap tried to fight sleep for longer, but was also asleep within the span of ten minutes.

_We're really traveling with them_? Darkfire asked.

_They seem nice_, Zyra said. _I'm sure they'll grow on you_.

_Not likely_, Darkfire muttered, but she voiced no other complaint.

Zyra asked the Pokémon of the forest for help and soon had a sizable pile of edible fruits, berries and roots. Zyra only had one bag, a purchase she had made in one of her very few journeys into the nearby town of Solaceon. It wasn't a large bag, but Zyra had very few possessions so she was able to fit most of the food inside. She hoped Pecha would have room for the rest.

_Think this is enough_? She asked Darkfire.

_Should be. Unless the Luxray is a pig_.

Zyra laughed and stroked the Umbreon's ears, which twitched in annoyance. _We should get some rest too. This will be our last night in the forest for a while. _Zyra said. She climbed into one of the trees and settled herself on a strong branch. Zyra always felt safest hidden in the boughs of a tree.

* * *

Pecha woke, her whole body stiff from sleeping on the hard ground. Her head was propped on Zap's side which wasn't uncommon, but the rest of her body was lying on hard dirt. Groggily, she opened her eyes and was met by lush forest.

_I guess it wasn't a dream, _she thought, recalling the strange feral girl.

_It wasn't_, Zap assured.

There were a few apples lying on a bed of leaves near Pecha which Pecha assumed were for her. She picked one up, and hearing no arguments, took a bite. Pecha had never tasted anything so sweet and delicious before in her life. Of course, this may have been due to the fact that she hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast the day before and was completely ravenous. She ate the apples too quickly and her stomach rebelled, but she managed to keep everything down.

Zap ate more slowly and finished off the rest of the apples.

"I've never liked apples so much before," Pecha said.

"They're great aren't they?" Zyra replied from up in a tree. Pecha, who hadn't realized the girl was around startled and looked around for her. "Up here." Zyra waved at her from the branch of a tree.

"I had no idea you were there!" Pecha exclaimed, impressed.

"Then who were you talking to?" Zyra asked. "Don't you talk to Zap telepathically?" Zyra waved fingers at her head to signify telepathy.

"Yeah but people in the village were always a bit less weirded out if I spoke to her out loud. I guess I got in the habit."

"They didn't like Pokésouls there?"

"It's not so much that as they'd just never met one before. I was strange and they just couldn't understand me." Pecha shrugged. "It's all in the past now though. We've left and we're not going back." Zap nodded her large head in agreement.

"Are you ready to start moving now?" Zyra asked. "I have some food packed. It's not much but it should be enough to get us to Solaceon at least."

"You've been to Solaceon before?" Pecha asked surprised.

"Even I needed to buy things sometimes," Zyra said. "I had to replace my clothes a few times. And I bought this bag."

"Well I'm ready to go. Thanks for the apples, by the way. I was really starving!" Pecha laughed a bit self-consciously.

"I couldn't let you starve before we even set out," Zyra replied. "The quickest path to the road is this way." Zyra leapt out of her tree followed by Darkfire who shadowed her. The girl led the way through the forest making nary a sound as she crossed the forest floor. Pecha felt quite ungainly next to her, snapping twigs and crunching leaves beneath her feet. A few minutes of wandering through the forest returned Pecha and Zap to the road they'd been traveling the day before, though quite a bit further down.

"The road," Zyra announced.

"Great!" Pecha said relieved. Pecha climbed up on Zap's back again, but noticed Zyra had yet to start walking. "Zyra?" She asked.

"One moment," the other girl replied. Zyra sat at the forest edge surrounded by Pokémon. She talked to them in soft tones and promised them she would return to them one day.

_They really love her don't they_? Pecha asked, remembering to keep it in her head this time.

_There's something about her_, Zap replied._ I feel it too. I just, like her. I think it may be her connection to the forest. She almost feels like one of us. A Pokémon. _

"I'm ready now," Zyra said standing up and turning away from the forest Pokémon. "It's time to see the world. Right Darkfire?" Darkfire yawned.

And so the two girls and their Pokémon set off down the road towards Solaceon, neither quite sure where their journey would take them but both looking forward to finding out.

* * *

_Zyra's Lessons in Civilization:_

_Government:_

"So there's a government?" Zyra said.

"You didn't know that?" Pecha replied.

"No one ever told me what to do in the woods."

"There is a government, but it doesn't affect us much out here in the Outerlands. The whole country is a republic ruled by a president in Lumiose," Pecha exclaimed. "Officially, everyone, cities and Outerlands, gets to vote. But they only accept votes at the larger towns, so most people out here never get the chance."

"I certainly never got to vote," Zyra mumbled.

"Well you lived in the woods so you wouldn't even know when an election was on. Or know who the candidates were," Pecha laughed.

"I should still get a vote," Zyra muttered.

"Well next time there's an election I'll make sure you know about it," Pecha said.

* * *

**Note: the last bit is a way for me to explain things about the world in a (hopefully) more entertaining way than just listing it. There will be more of these kind of things in later chapters  
**

**I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!**


	3. Lumiose

**Author's Note:**

**So I lied about not updating this week, I was so excited I wrote this pretty fast :)**

**The story is going to alternate between the city and the Outerlands, so this chapter is a second introductory chapter. The two stories will intersect later on. Next chapter will be back to Pecha and Zyra. ****Not much really happens in this one, I hope it's not too boring, but if I had put plot in here there would have been a cliffhanger and I figured kinda boring was better than annoying cliffhanger, hopefully it's entertaining anyway :)**

**Thanks for all the reviews, you were all super nice and it really motivates me! I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 2: Lumiose

* * *

_Lumiose - Capital City of the Republic_

_Upper Level_

The doors to the Drunken Magikarp swung open releasing the sound of revelry into the streets. Passersby in gaudy clothing gave the institution a wide berth and disgusted looks while people in rougher, more natural shades flocked to the place.

The interior was all wooden from the chairs to the tables to very walls. The only thing exempt from this (other than the dinnerware) was the wall behind the bar. It was made to look like woods but closer inspection revealed that the wall was made of metal. Illuminated pictures on the wall showed the names and logos of different beverages. A man stood behind the bar and would tap the logos which would cause a glass of the selected drink to be dispensed. The man would then take the glass and either give it to someone at the bar or give it to another worker to be delivered.

The male and female workers were dressed similarly, though the girls wore dresses and the men shirts and pants. Both outfits were a truly alarming shade of orange with pale aprons over the top. When one was drunk, the workers really did appear a bit like drunken Magikarp, but then again, if one were drunk enough to believe that anything orange would likely appear the same.

One of the workers was a tan girl with long black hair pulled back with a golden clip. She sat in a chair across from a male customer, her amber eyes staring dreamily at him as he talked. However the mind of the girl was far from the vapid, flirty exterior. This girl, Kai Akiyama, was in fact analyzing the man in front of her and deciding what actions and words would get him to trust her the most quickly.

Kai fluttered her eyes at the man and giggled flirtatiously. "I'm sure you're very important," she assured.

"I do have quite a bit of money," the man laughed.

"I'd love to hear more about what you do. It sounds...exciting."

"Just between you and me..."

"Of course!" Kai's eyes widened and she put on her most innocent face. _Just you, me, and the entire Guardian Force_, Kai amended mentally.

"I was given a significant amount of cash to make some fake passes. Mine are top quality," the man bragged.

"Did they say what they wanted them for?" Kai asked, making the question sound off-hand, not wanting to sound too interested.

"Who cares?" The man laughed. "They paid me!"

Kai giggled with him and said, "Care to spend some?" Gesturing at the bar.

"Gimme another Gyrados Rage," he said.

"Coming right up," Kai winked at him. She subtly shook herself as she walked away, trying to remove the feel of the creep's eyes on her. Fake passes, nothing major. Preston would be disappointed. And the creep didn't even know what they were for. Kai highly doubted the man was even the one who actually made them, he didn't seem clever enough.

Passes were cards that let people from the Outerlands visit the city during the day. These passes had varying periods of validity, some lasting as little as one day while others were valid for several months. The creation of fake passes was a common one as people in the Outerlands were willing to pay exorbitantly for them, but unless they were very well made they were always discovered. The reason for their popularity was this: There were three ways for someone born in the Outerlands to become a city citizen. The first, buy citizenship. This price of this was so high, it was basically impossible. The second, get a job and the third, marry a city citizen. The second two options were more cost efficient, the problem was, meeting a prospective employer or potential marriage candidate was hard when you were on opposite sides of the wall. People would pay for the passes hoping to land a job or get married, thus securing themselves a place in the city.

Kai took over for the man at the bar, using the cover to send a quick message to Preston on her phone with the information she'd extracted. He'd take care of it.

"What's up Kai?" Asked a man sitting the bar. He had messy white hair and shining green eyes. On the stool next to his a Sylveon sat, the only Pokémon in the whole establishment.

"Wolf?" Kai said, her flirty persona dropping completely from surprise. Hastily she plastered the vacant grin back on but her voice remained cold. "What are you doing here?

"I wanted to see what you were up to," he replied.

Kai sighed. Wolf was the latest recruit of the Guardian Force and Kai was still completely at a loss as to why he had joined. As far as Kai knew he'd never had a job before, though as a Pokésoul it was obvious why he'd been accepted. Pokésouls, even untrained ones, were a level above normal Pokémon trainers (not to say that ordinary trainers couldn't win, they were just at a disadvantage) and ordinary people. The Guardian Force had had its fair share of Pokésouls in its ranks, but a few months ago the last of them had retired. The Guardian Force was now frantically trying to hire more so that they wouldn't be behind criminal groups that _did_ have Pokésouls. Not that Kai was really supposed to know that. She worked for the Guardian Force as an informant only, not an official member, but the same skills that made her so valuable to them also allowed her to snoop into more of their business than they really wanted her to know.

"Why did you start working with the Guardian Force?" Wolf asked as he sipped on a soda.

"Hey!" Kai hissed, leaning close to the boy. "Don't talk about it here! I can't have these people knowing about my other job."

"Sorry," Wolf said, hands raising in surrender. At least Wolf had had the sense not to wear his badge in the bar. If he had no amount of fast talking would have gotten Kai out of getting fired. The white haired boy was wearing a simple black shirt and jeans with running shoes. The outfit made him blend in quite nicely with the other clientele and Kai briefly wondered if that was on purpose or not. She'd only met the boy once in the office by chance and the only thing she really knew about him was that he was relentlessly curious.

Kai just shook her head at him and ignored him while she served the other customers. Maybe if she ignored him, he'd go away. The next time she glanced back he was gone, so she supposed it had worked.

As she worked the bar she kept an eye out for suspicious characters like the one she'd talked to earlier. Kai was an informant for the Guardian Force. Her day (well night really) job of being a barmaid allowed her to get close to several people the Guardian Force was interested in. And by using her feminine charms (plus a lot of alcohol) she was generally able to get them to share their secrets which she then passed on to Preston, her usual contact with the Guardian Force. Failing that, she could fall back on another of her hobbies - hacking. While not strictly legal, Kai tended to get away with it because of the valuable information she uncovered. Plus the Guardians wasn't quite aware of _how much _hacking she did.

The Guardian Force was the top law keeping force in the Republic. Each city and the larger towns in the Outerlands had their own police force, but only Lumiose had the Guardian Force, often simply called, the Guardians. The Guardians weren't responsible for petty crimes and thefts; they were to fight against larger threats, things like terrorist groups, assassination attempts and threats to the city. Officially, the Guardians were supposed to look into major threats anywhere in the Republic, but the truth of it was that only threats to the cities were investigated thoroughly.

The Guardians were an elite force consisting mostly of richer people in the cities, but things were gradually changing. People had been complaining about the favoritism of the upper class for years and in response the police forces, and the Guardians, were being more open to people of other status, though what they desperately wanted now we're Pokésouls. Any Pokésoul willing to join was welcome, regardless of status, previous employment or even criminal record (barring capital offenses). But the rarity of Pokésouls was such that the call had only garnered two recruits so far.

Kai had her suspicions of why so few joined. Firstly, there were less Pokésouls in the cities than in the Outerlands, possibly simply due to the lower concentration of Pokémon. Pokésouls in the Outerlands were unlikely to join or even know it was a valid option for them of the Pokésouls in the city, the poor were not particularly fond of the Guardians and the rich generally felt themselves above that kind of work. So this left them with only their two new Pokésouls.

One of these was Wolf, the man from the bar earlier. The other was a man named Wyvrn that Kai was not particularly fond of.

The two were part of the new Pokésoul division. Why they needed a whole division for two people Kai wasn't sure. Her best guess was that having a whole division just for them would encourage more to join, but she was guessing at this point.

What she did know she'd heard from her handler at the Guardian Force, a man named Preston Rolfe. Preston had been put in charge of the Pokésoul division which was how Kai had ended up meeting Wolf. While not a Pokésoul himself, Preston's wife Scarlet was and apparently that was close enough in the Guardian's books.

After several hours of revelry and alcohol the last patron had been kicked out and Kai was cleaning up her area. When she finished she walked to the back room to change out of her horrendous orange. Her outfit consisted of a red silk top with thin yellow patterns and a long skirt of the same design. Together they appeared to be a dress but provided her with more maneuverability than wearing one would. The clothing was traditional to her family's culture and that was important to her. She loved technology, but she didn't think the past should be forgotten. After hanging her work dress in her locker, she walked out the door, saying goodbye to her fellow workers.

"Hi Kai!" exclaimed Wolf pushing away from a wall he'd been (too) casually leaning against.

"Wolf?" Kai said confused. "What are you still doing here?"

"You said you couldn't talk inside, but now we're outside!" Kai stared at him unimpressed. "So now will you tell me why you got into the Guardian Force?"

"Why are you so interested?" Kai asked, deflecting the question.

"I just want to talk to someone in the Guardians," Wolf replied. "But the only ones I know there are Preston, who is my boss and kinda mean, that crazy guy Wyvrn who's meaner than Preston, and you. So you're the logical choice to talk to."

"You know I don't actually work there," Kai pointed out. "I'm an informant so I don't actually have an official job."

"But you still work for them. So tell me why!"

Kai quickly realized that ignoring the question would not get him to stop asking. "Well why did _you_ enter the Guardians?" Kai asked, hoping turning the question around on him might deter him. It didn't.

"I asked you first. Hey, what if I tell you why I joined, and then you tell me why you work for them! Fair exchange of information!"

"Not if your story is something like, 'because I felt like it.'"

"It isn't," Wolf promised. "So?"

Kai considered her options. She could decline, but if she did that Wolf would likely ask her every time he saw her, which could be quite often depending on his determination. If she agreed, she would get his story (and more information was always a good thing) and she could tell him an overly simplified version of her story. He wouldn't know he wasn't getting everything. Kai happened to know she had an _excellent_ poker face. "Fine, but I'm walking towards my house." Kai said, hoping his story would be worth hearing. She turned away from him and began walking down the street, lit by moonlight, car headlights and street lamps. Wolf hurried after her.

"There's a large portion of my childhood I have no memory of. I thought maybe the Guardian Force would have resources that could help me find out what happened. And my mom thought it was time I got a job," Wolf explained.

"You don't remember anything from that time?"

"Nope. Neither does Silvia and I met her sometime in that period." Wolf shrugged. "Nothing we've ever tried to bring our memories back has worked, so we thought it was time to try finding out some other way. So, your turn." At the mention of the Sylveon Kai quickly checked her pockets. When she'd met Wolf the first time Silvia had stolen her hair clip. Nothing was missing this time but, she gave the Sylveon a warning glare anyway. Silvia simply stared innocently back at her.

Wolf was still looking at her expectantly so Kai gave him her story. "My brother died giving information to the Guardian Force. I'm continuing his work." This wasn't a lie exactly, but Kai wouldn't say it was the truth either. The real story was much longer and more complicated, but at its core that was the story. Kai disliked parting with information that could be used against her and the real story involved a lot more hacking and bending of laws then was strictly legal. Something she'd rather not admit to someone she barely knew.

"I'm sorry about your brother," Wolf offered. Kai accepted his sympathy in silence. "How long have you been doing this?" Wolf asked.

"Walking? For most of my life."

Wolf chuckled at that but asked again. "Seriously, the Guardians thing. How long have you done that?"

"About a year now," Kai replied.

"Are they good people?" Wolf asked. "Preston seems cool, but I can't tell if the Guardian Force is..._good_ or not."

"It really depends on how you define good," Kai said. "I think they try to be good. They don't always succeed, but...at least they try."

Wolf digested that. "Thanks for being honest," he said. After a moment of contemplative silence he said, "Sooo, what's your favorite color?"

"Huh?" Kai replied confused at the abrupt change of subject.

"We should get to know each other better!"

"I bet you're great at twenty questions," Kai muttered.

"Terrible actually," Wolf admitted. "I always ask too many."

"Well, this is my stop," Kai said, staining before a metal cylinder.

The two had walked, Kai leading and now they were standing in front of a cylindrical metal dome. This dome enclosed to elevator to the lower level of the city.

"You live on the lower level?" Wolf asked surprised.

"Yeah, I'm afraid of heights," Kai said. "I'd never be able to get to sleep up here. I'm too afraid I'll just fall." She shuddered and quickly walked into the elevator when it arrived with a quiet ding. "Bye Wolf," Kai waved.

"Thanks for the story!" Wolf said as the doors closed. Silvia made a cheerful sound as well. Kai checked her pockets once more. Her pack of mints! She looked up as the doors closed and saw the Sylveon holding them in her mouth, somehow managing to smirk at Kai from around the container. The doors slammed shut the rest of the way and Kai sighed.

The city was built in two levels, Kai lived on the lower one but worked on the upper level. The upper level was where the wealthy generally lived as the lower level was a bit depressing. Only the very edges of the lower level got noticeable levels of sunlight, the rest was fairly dismal. Kai, being fairly well off, lived on the edge in the sunlight. She walked home, glancing upwards at the upper city. It glowed faintly, giving the lower level the illusion of being in the moonlight. During the day it would be much brighter and the blue base would be visibly, giving the lower level a false sky.

The upper city was connected to the lower city by the four power plants, one in each Cardinal direction. This was not, however what held the upper city up. Engineers had discovered the secret to the Levitate ability used by Pokémon and had managed to create devices which imitated the effect. It was these generator that held the upper city in its floating position over the lower level.

When Kai had first learned of the generators she had spent countless nights terrified the city would simply fall down. That fear still lingered (hence her living on the lower level) but she had come to realize that with the amount of backups and redundancies the city would never fall.

The lower level was very different from the upper level. The people looked less healthy and were almost all an unhealthy pale from lack of exposure to the sun. There were no cars here either, no one able to afford them. Even if people were able to buy a car, the roads were in no shape to be driven on. They had long since become pedestrian only zones.

Kai's family lived on the upper level of Castelia. She'd moved to Lumiose to work for the Guardian Force and had bought her house in the lower area. She did miss her family sometimes, but being able to sleep without the fear of falling was bliss. If she could get away with never setting foot on the upper level she would do so instantly, but sadly that was unlikely to happen anytime soon.

* * *

Wolf turned away from the elevator Kai had taken and set off again. _What did you take_? He added Silvia.

The Sylveon really couldn't help herself, if she had been human she would've been arrested for petty theft, but as a Pokémon there really wasn't any legal action people could take.

_Mints_, Silvia replied. _Want one_? Silvia showed Wolf the metal container and Wolf smiled and took it from her.

_You should probably stop stealing from people I work with_, Wolf commented. His chastisement was undercut a bit by how he immediately ate one of Kai's mints and offered one to Silvia. Silvia took it.

_I'll try_, she said. _No promises though._

_What do you think? _Wolf asked._ Was joining the Guardians a good idea?_

Silvia tilted her head in what was her version of a shrug and said_, If it goes bad we can always just sneak off._

_I think if we do that we'll have to run away to the Outerlands. _Wolf replied_. _

_That might be nice, _Silvia mused_. As long as there's still stuff for me to steal there. _

_You actually are a kleptomaniac aren't you? _

_It's fun! And no one can really blame me, they don't have a court for Pokémon yet! I think we should prank Wyvrn next._

_Not a good idea, _Wolf stated_. Remember the keys incident? _

_That was one time! I won't get caught next time! _

Wolf laughed at his Pokémon's complete confidence. _The trick is to make sure his Kadabra is distracted_, Wolf said.

_So you distract the Kadabra and I strike_!

The two walked along the street, the grey concrete giving way to more trees and grass as the two entered a park. Beyond the park was the building where Wolf and Silvia lived. The building contained several small apartments that were available for the use of Guardian Force members who had didn't have their own place yet. Wolf and Silvia had moved to Lumiose for this job and didn't have the money to buy their own place so they were staying in the apartments.

_This place is dismal_, Silvia muttered.

_It's better than nothing_, Wolf said. The two walked up the stairs and as Wolf opened the door he murmured._ I hope I haven't made a huge mistake coming here_.

_We're in this together_, Silvia said. _Whatever happens, we can handle it_.

Wolf smiled at the Sylveon. _You're right... Thanks._

* * *

_Lumiose: Lower Level_

Lumiose was built in two levels, the first consisted of four power plants and the homes of those who lived there. The second was what people generally considered to be the city. It was where the rich and well-off lived and was generally considered to be one of the very best places to live in the entire Republic. The lower level, however, was a much unhappier place. The existence of the upper level blocked out most sunlight leaving it in a constant state of dreary semi-darkness and it lacked the cleaning technologies of the upper level, so the streets were strewn with refuse.

Most cities had only one power plant, but Lumiose had grown so big that the city required four to power it. The newest of these was the eastern power plant. It was built much the same as the others, a circular building that funneled power into the city above it. The actual power generation was done by Electric Pokémon and was the least difficult part; the tricky part was the distribution. This task was handled by computers, but they had to be constantly kept in repair for if they were ever to make a mistake there was a possibility of the plant overloading.

A young girl ran towards the hulking round mass that was the power plant, dodging people wandering the streets. She had long light brown hair which flew behind her in the wind as she ran. She reached the door to the plant, quickly smoothed out her blue t-shirt and took her identification card out of the pocket of her white cargo shorts.

There was a small black rectangular device next to the door and she held her card above it. Her card listed her name as Christina Oak.

A light above the device flashed green and the door made a loud clanking sound as it unlocked, Christina slipping inside.

"You're late Christina," barked a middle aged man. He was aged beyond his years, half his black hair already grey.

"Sorry Tavis," Christina apologized.

Tavis shrugged and gestured for her to get on with her work. Christina usually got away with things because she normally was a very dedicated worker as well as being the youngest person working there. She'd started when she was only seven. She was fourteen now, but she was still the youngest. Add in her small stature and it was guaranteed that Christina never got the hard jobs.

The plant generated energy during the day and at night the city would run off of the reserves. This gave the Pokémon a break at night and made maintenance to the Pokémon's stations easier. The down side to this was that the power plant stored immense amounts of energy, and if something ever went wrong at the very least an entire quadrant of the city would lose power. In the worst case the whole plant would blow.

The idea of this had worried Christina when she first started, but seven years of no incidents had made her realize that the likelihood of something going wrong was actually quite slim. With all the workers and machines constantly monitoring everything all the time, the plant was pretty safe.

She walked down the hallway past people monitoring the Pokémon's physical state and the status of the plant to a door marked 'Storage.' Inside were baskets of Pokémon food which Christina took. One of her main jobs was to keep the Pokémon fed. A job she quite enjoyed. She visited the Pikachu, Voltorb, Electrike, and other electric Pokémon on her rounds. They all greeted her happily, knowing what her presence meant and would take short breaks to gulp down some food.

The last stop was to an Electabuzz who was currently stuffing her face on the apple Christina offered. Christina glanced at the monitoring station and noticed someone asleep on the controls. All that was visible was his blonde hair, just reaching beyond his shoulders.

"Kirtus," Christina said. The boy remained asleep. "Kirtus," she tried again. "Kirtus!" This yell was joined by her hitting the boy on the shoulder.

"Huh?" Kirtus jolted upward. "Oh, hi Christina!"

"You fell asleep again," Christina scolded.

"I got tired," Kirtus replied. He yawned hugely and started to put his head back down.

"Kirtus!" Christina yelled again. Kirtus flinched and remained sitting up.

"Fine, I'll try to stay," yawn. "Awake."

Christina sighed. At least Kirtus's job wasn't particularly vital. The computer he was in charge of had an alarm so loud it practically shattered eardrums so in the event he was needed he'd probably wake up. Though Christina had seen him sleep through some truly astonishing things (like the one time an Electivire got angry and smashed a few of the computers before being subdued) so Christina wouldn't be entirely surprised if he slept through his alarm as well.

She left Kirtus and continued her rounds. Her job was completely routine to her now. Pick up food, deliver to Pokémon. Make sure they all looked healthy. Once the Pokémon were taken care of Christina got a short break. After that she took care of the human half of the workforce. She repeated the same steps as she did for the Pokémon except that the humans required more conversation.

Kirtus she saved for last in her human rounds as she knew she would have to watch him to make sure he didn't fall asleep in his food. One time that had happened he almost got mauled by an Electrike that wanted a bite of his sandwich. After that event it was decided that Kirtus required supervision when he ate.

Though she found his borderline narcolepsy an annoyance, Kirtus was actually one of her favorite people in the plant. He was extremely nice and, perhaps unexpectedly, extremely dependable. If someone needed something from him, he would always come through. Why he couldn't use some of this dedication in his own work baffled Christina.

When Christina got back around to Kirtus this time he was awake and doing the only thing that could reliably keep him awake - tinkering. Christina wasn't one for messing a around with technology, she used it of course, but she didn't much care how it worked. It did and that's what mattered. Kirtus however, he loved figuring out how things worked. Taking things apart, putting them back together, making things out of other things, it was really quite impressive. As long as he wasn't borrowing your toaster and then returning it a few days later as a CD player (Christina missed that toaster).

"Lunch," Christina announced, dropping a foil wrapped sandwich in front of the boy.

"Is it good today?" Kirtus asked.

"Dunno. I just ate an apple."

Kirtus put down whatever he was tinkering with and carefully unwrapped the sandwich. Christina slumped into a chair and watched a Pikachu spark at the electricity storage unit.

Kirtus sighed. "Soggy tomato sandwich. Again."

"You could bring your own lunch," Christina suggested.

"I can't cook."

"Yeah, you'd probably fall asleep in it."

Despite his complaint Kirtus munched on his sandwich and glanced at the electronic board he was in charge of. The board was monitoring the output of the electric Pokémon in the sector and Kirtus's job was simply to make sure there were no unexpected lapses, or surges, in output. One would leave people without power and the other would overload the system. Kirtus's was one of many in the plant and so his current job was not particularly important.

Kirtus finished off his sandwich, folded the foil into a small ball and threw it at the trash can. It bounced out.

"Nice try," Christina joked.

Kirtus sighed, got up and put the ball in the trash. "You can stop watching me now," he said. "And I can go back to sleep."

"I think the amount you sleep is unhealthy."

"No such thing," Kirtus denied. Christina shook her head disbelievingly and left her friend.

Once everyone had been fed, Christina's task was to cycle through the Pokémon. The power plant had a full size basement that had effectively been converted into a Pokémon living area. At night, all the Pokémon were left down there to rest. They wanted to make sure they didn't overwork any of the Pokémon, so the power plant had nearing a hundred Pokémon.

Christina walked down the steps to the Pokémon area. There were a few different regions in the basement to match the different habitats the Pokémon preferred. Some was left as is and looked much as the upstairs did, blank metal for Pokémon like Magnemite. Another area was a carefully maintained greenhouse area where small shrugs and flowers grew to provide homes for Pokémon like Pikachu.

Christina loved being down here. It felt like a small refuge from the rest of the world. "Who's ready to work?" she asked. Several Pokémon came forward and looked at her expectantly. Christina opened the door and the Pokémon went up the stairs. When the power plant had first been built people had tried to tell the Pokémon when to start and stop and which Pokémon needed a break, but they found it was more efficient and easier all around if they let the Pokémon handle it themselves. So far there hadn't been any major problems that wouldn't have occurred with the humans dictating things so it seemed to be a good arrangement.

Christina's job was to supervise them and just make sure nothing unexpected happened. Nothing unusual ever happened. This was Christina's life, not exciting to be sure, but it was comfortable. It was hers. And she loved it.

* * *

_Wolf asks questions:_

_Guardian Force_

"So how does the Guardian Force work?" Wolf asked.

"Could you have given me a vaguer question?" Kai replied irritably.

"I mean, what's the command structure?"

"Well... The whole thing is run by the Head Guardian. Right now that's a woman named Sena Bax. Under her are the Major Guardians who each are in charge of their own squads. Preston is a Major Guardian. Then everyone else, including you, are just Guardians."

"Ah, thanks," Wolf said.

"How did you not know that already?" Kai wondered.

Wolf shrugged. "They told me to report to Preston. That was all. Luckily I have you to explain everything!"

"Lucky you," Kai muttered.


	4. Have You Seen?

**Author's Note:**

**Thanks to all the people who reviewed :) it's really encouraging!**

**I hope you enjoy the new chapter :D**

* * *

Chapter 3: Have You Seen...?

* * *

Pecha and Zyra (plus Darkfire and Zap) walked down the road sharing anecdotes of their lives. Zyra's involved a lot of calming wild Pokémon in the forest while Pecha's tended more towards the TV shows she liked to watch. It took some explaining to get Zyra to understand the concept of television, and Pecha wasn't sure she actually understood now or if she'd just gotten tired of Pecha trying to explain it to her.

"So Darkfire and I got on either side of the Pansage when -"

Zyra stopped suddenly.

"Zyra?" Pecha asked.

"Darkfire hears something," Zyra replied.

Pecha looked down at Zap. "You hear anything?"

_You talking. Not much else_, Zap answered.

"Let's keep going," Pecha suggested.

"Yes, but let's continue slowly. Darkfire has a bad feeling."

It turned out that Darkfire's bad feeling was completely warranted. On the road there were several armed men holding spears and standing with several fearsome Machamp.

The men surrounded a girl who looked nervously for a way out. A short distance from her lay a Frosslass, out cold.

"We have to help her," Pecha hissed.

"Agreed," replied Zyra. "I hate raiders." Zyra's eyes blazed with hatred as she stared at the men. These men were probably not in league with the ones who'd attacked Zyra's village. Raiders was actually a very broad title that encompassed bandits on the roads (like the ones they were near now) to actual groups of organized crime. For the most part they were made up of bandits though, organization was never a big thing in the Outerlands.

Pecha and Zyra shared a glance, then both marched up to the men.

"Let her go," Pecha demanded. The largest man laughed. Not a great start.

_You didn't really expect that to work did you_? Zap asked.

_Not helping_, Pecha hissed.

"We will not be letting her go. In fact I think we will be taking you as well!"

"Not a chance!" Zyra yelled, reaching for one of the Poké Balls on her belt. She threw it and a Teddiursa appeared. "Teddi!" It declared.

There were three Machamp and they moved towards Pecha and Zyra. Zyra glanced at Darkfire, who yawned and laid down, then sent out another Pokémon. This one was a Butterfree.

Pecha only had Luxray and the only battle experience she had was battling wild Pokémon outside of Cornflower. She really hoped the Machamp looked worse than they were.

"Butterfree, Psybeam! Teddiursa, Slash!" Zyra commanded. Her Butterfree and Teddiursa both used their respective attacks, sending the Machamp flying.

She stared at Zap's opponent and wasn't sure what to do. _Don't worry_, Zap assured her. _I can handle this_.

Zap lunged at the Machamp, lightning sizzling in her jaws. Darkfire made her move when the Machamp were occupied, dashing forward and slamming into the largest of the men, knocking him to the ground.

"Let the girl go and leave. Otherwise she'll bite." Darkfire's mouth was open, her fangs grazing the man's throat.

The men looked to the fallen man in confusion and he gestured desperately at them to run away. They did so, dropping the girl's things and running, the Machamp following after them. Darkfire rolled off the man and the man immediately stood and dashed after his partners in crime.

The girl stared at Zyra and Pecha in disbelief and puzzlement. Pecha got her first good look at the girl and felt suddenly underdressed. The girl had long black hair pulled back into two pigtails and Pecha could immediately tell her hair was cut professionally, not in a mirror by herself like Pecha did. Her clothes were clearly of higher quality than Pecha's and looked like they were made for her.

The girl brushed off her white sweater, trying to remove the worst of the dirt from the road. She unzipped it revealing a cyan shirt and briefly took the sweater off to shake it out. When she donned it again she didn't bother to zip it back up. Pecha eyed the girl's Jean skirt with something nearing envy. Half the clothes Pecha was wearing were actually men's clothes, she couldn't remember ever wearing something so obviously feminine. Her boots were enviable as well, beautiful black boots that ended mid shin. A gold chain glittered in the dirt of the road and the girl bent down to pick it up. She fastened the necklace and the ice gem that hung on it fell to her throat.

Zyra didn't seem self-conscious at all in the way Pecha was and smiled at the girl, "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes," the girl replied quietly. "Thank you." The girl crouched next to the fallen Frosslass with a concerned expression.

"Here," Zyra held out a handful of Oran berries to the girl. She took them with a grateful smile and offered them to the Frosslass who had regained consciousness but was struggling to lift itself off the ground. The Frosslass ate the berries and Pecha saw it's state improve markedly.

The girl stood and bowed her head slightly. "I am Nami. This is Yuki." She gestured to the Frosslass. "Thank you for helping us."

"It's dangerous to travel alone," Pecha said. This was of course something she had learned first hand when she tried to do the same thing. Her arm stung in remembrance.

"I have someone I need to find," Nami said. "I have to travel."

"Who are you looking for?" Pecha asked curiously.

"My brother," Nami replied. She picked her bag up off the ground and searched inside for a few seconds. Her hand emerged holding a photo which she showed to Zyra and Pecha. The photo showed a girl who was clearly a younger version of Nami sitting with an older boy. The boy had slightly spiky black hair and smirked at the camera.

"His name is Blake," Nami informed. "Have you seen him?"

"Sorry," Pecha said.

"Nope," Zyra agreed. "When was the last time you saw him?"

"About three years ago," Nami answered.

"Right," Zyra said. Then the answer sunk in. "Wait - three _years_? He could be anywhere!"

"He isn't in any of the cities," Nami replied. "So he must be in the Outerlands somewhere."

"How do you know he's not in any of the cities?" Pecha asked.

"I declared him missing. When the police looked for him they found out he'd left. If he ever returns the police will get an alert and call me."

"I hate cities," Zyra said shuddering. "They're so...dead."

"Really? I liked it there." Nami's expression turned wistful.

"It's dangerous for you to wander around by yourself." Yuki glared at Pecha so Pecha amended her statement. "With just Yuki I mean. Zyra and I aren't going anywhere in particular, we can help you, right?"

_Her brother's been missing for three years_, Zap pointed out. _The chances of finding him are basically nil. _

_I know, but she'll get in trouble by herself. _

_She's dealt with it this long. _

_Just because someone's alone doesn't mean they should stay that way forever._

"Yeah, we can go with you," Zyra replied animatedly.

"Are you sure?" Nami asked staring at them oddly. "We just met and you want to help me."

"Yes," Zyra declared. "And like she said we aren't going anywhere in particular. So we can help you and travel!"

"Thank you then," Nami said. "Um...what are you're names?"

"Oh! Right sorry," Zyra apologized. "I'm Zyra. The Umbreon is Darkfire. That's Pecha and Zap."

"Pecha? Like the -"

"Yes! Like the berry!" Pecha cut off.

"She's a bit sensitive about it," Zyra stage whispered while Pecha glared.

"We should stay in Solaceon for the day. It's pretty close," Nami suggested, gesturing down the road.

"Yep, I know Solaceon," Zyra said. "Let's go!"

* * *

The three girls and their Pokémon arrived in Solaceon about an hour later. Nami was extremely suspicious of the two strangers who suddenly wanted to help her. Sure, she wanted to believe they were really good people, but one thing she'd learned in her years in the Outlands was that people rarely were kind for kindness sake. She'd leave early in the morning before they woke up, she hadn't told them where she was going so it wouldn't be a problem.

_You really think they're up to something? _Yuki asked.

_I hope not_, Nami replied. _But they showed up just in time to help us, doesn't it seem suspicious?_

_I suppose it does, _Yuki admitted.

"This is the town inn," Nami informed when they reached the small blue-roofed building. Solaceon was a fairly small town, the inn being one of the only non-residential buildings in the town. It was bigger than some of the other towns Nami had visited in her travels, but compared to her home city Nimbasa everything in the Outerlands was incredibly small.

"Uh," Zyra said staring warily at the inn.

"What?" asked Pecha.

"I don't want to sleep in there."

"Why not? We haven't even seen the inside yet."

"I can't sleep inside, it's too confining! What if a Rhyhorn goes on a rampage in the middle of the night, how do you get out of its way in there?"

"Well the point of the walls is to keep rampaging Pokémon _out_," Pecha explained. "You don't even want to take a look?"

Zyra backed away from the inn like it was some sort of monster (though if it really were she would probably be walking towards it). "No I can't do it," she said. "I'll just sleep on the roof." Before Pecha could argue Zyra had already scaled the walls of the building and sat down on the blue roof. Nami stared after her impressed, there didn't even appear to be any handholds.

"I wonder how much they charge for roof sleeping," Pecha mused.

"Is she going to be okay up there?" Nami asked.

Pecha shrugged. "She lived in a forest before this, she'll be fine."

The two girls walked inside the inn to the innkeeper who stood at a counter looking like the very image of boredom. "Hello," Pecha greeted. "We need two rooms. Also my friend wants to sleep on your roof."

"Your friend what?"

"She wants to sleep on the roof. How much will that cost?"

"She wants to sleep on the roof?" The innkeeper repeated.

"Yes."

"It's a silver a piece for the rooms. Fifty coppers for the roof," the innkeeper replied dazedly.

Nami and Pecha both got out their respective coin purses and paid the innkeeper - Pecha paying fifty coppers more to cover Zyra's "room." They walked away from the counter, sitting at one of the tables. The bottom floor of the inn doubled as a small lounge/dining area.

"When I stayed here last night she charged me three silver for one room," Nami commented.

"Yep," Pecha said. "People always try to overcharge you, that's why you have to learn to haggle. She was just too surprised by Zyra's sleeping arrangements to try to overcharge us this time."

"I never had to haggle in the city " Nami muttered.

"What are the cities like?" Pecha asked curiously. "I've seen them on TV but it's not like really being there."

"I don't really know how to explain properly," Nami said. "I've never tried before." When Pecha looked at her imploringly Nami sighed and began speaking. "It's really different from here. There are a lot of cars and pavement. Also I never had to haggle before. I don't, I don't know how to explain."

"It's alright," Pecha said, though she looked a bit disappointed. "Thanks for trying."

Nami stared at the blue haired girl and wondered what she really wanted. She considered asking but what came out was, "Um, sorry if this is rude but, how is your hair blue?"

"Hmm? My hair?" Pecha looked at a dark blue lock and laughed. "It's actually kind of a funny story. You see, Zap and I made our living foraging for berries, but there was this one kind of berry no one would ever buy. The Kelpsy berry. It ends up they have no medicinal purpose and they taste bad. Anyway, Zap and I found a bush once and I dared her to eat one and she hated it so much she pushed me into the bush out of revenge. I ended up covered in the juice and it stained everything, my hair, my skin, my clothes, everything! I managed to get the blue out of my skin eventually, but my hair and clothes stayed blue. Anyway, I decided I liked it and kept dying after that," Pecha finished with a shrug.

"It got that color just from berries?" Nami wondered. "I imagine there are some salons in the city that would like to know that."

"Really?" Pecha asked. "Think I could make a living selling hair dye?" She grinned.

"Uh, maybe?" Nami said. "Um. Yuki is tired so I'm going to my room."

"Goodnight," Pecha replied cheerfully. "See you in the morning!"

Nami smiled and thought, _No you won't!_

_Do you really think they're bad people? _Yuki wondered. _They seem nice. Really weird, but nice._

_I don't know, _Nami replied_. But I'd rather not risk it. _

Nami and Yuki retired upstairs to the room they'd stayed in the day before. Their plan had been to head to Hearthome today. It was one of the larger towns in the Sinnoh area and so the best place to look for Blake. Unfortunately she'd been stopped by the raiders before she could get very far down the road.

The room was a serviceable one, certainly better than others she had stayed in but nothing special. The bed wasn't too uncomfortable and the window allowed enough light in that it wasn't dark and creepy, but it wasn't blinding when the sun came up either. _We will find him, won't we Yuki_, Nami asked.

_Of course we will_, Yuki replied.

Despite her Pokémon's assurances Nami knew it was unlikely she would ever find Blake. That didn't mean she would stop looking. She would look until she found him. After all, he was the only family she had left and she wasn't going to give up on him.

Nami kicked off her boots and lay down on the bed. She wasn't tired, but she would need her rest if she wanted to evade Pecha and Zyra by leaving early so she closed her eyes hoping for some rest.

* * *

The barest glimmer of sunlight from the window woke Nami. She glanced outside and saw that the sun was rising. Time to leave then. _Yuki_, she said.

The Frosslass jolted awake from her sleep and followed Nami out the door. Nami wasn't certain which room Pecha was in so she made sure to tiptoe past them all. It ended up she needn't have bothered.

Pecha sat at the table they had sat at yesterday, Zap sitting beside the table and Zyra sitting across from her glancing at the walls as if she expected them to cave in on her at any moment.

"Nami!" Pecha called. Nami sighed and resigned herself of their company. Maybe they really _did_ just want to help. She supposed she'd find out.

"Hi," she greeted them.

"You're up early," Pecha commented.

"You were both up earli_er_," Nami replied, somewhat bitterly.

Pecha chuckled and said, "I'm used to waking up early. I had to leave at sunup if I wanted to gather enough berries to not starve."

"And I'm awake because they have an uncomfortable roof," Zyra complained. "They should plant a tree outside."

"I'll let you be the one to suggest that to the innkeeper," Pecha said.

"It's a brilliant idea!" Zyra claimed. "Right Nami?"

"Um, yes?" Nami replied.

"See!" Zyra said.

"She's just being polite. So did you have a destination in mind?" Pecha asked Nami.

Nami supposed she was stuck traveling with the strange girls at this point, which if they were truly as they seemed was not at all a bad thing. She just worried that they weren't what they appeared. Internally sighing, she supposed she would have to give up her plan. "I was heading to Hearthome," Nami said.

"Hearthome?" Zyra repeated.

"Hearthome," Pecha said. "One of the largest towns in the Sinnoh area. It's developed enough that it's almost more like a city than a town, but they don't have a power plant or a wall so it's still just a town."

Zyra looked at her blankly. "Wall? Power plant?"

"The cities are powered by electricity generated by power plants," Nami explained quietly. "The cities have walls which prevent people who don't live there from entering the city."

"So they're keeping people out. That's mean."

Nami just shrugged.

"Should we go?" Pecha asked. "Zap is getting restless." Nami glanced at the Luxray and doubted the girl's words as the Luxray appeared to be fast asleep.

"Yes!" Zyra exclaimed. "Let's get out of this place and go somewhere normal, like a forest!"

"I'm not sleeping in a tree," Pecha said.

"I don't want to either," Nami added. _I'd probably fall out_, she added to Yuki.

_I wouldn't, _Yuki replied_. _

_You float._

_So? _Nami just sighed.

* * *

The three girls and their Pokémon partners set off down the road away from Solaceon city. "Aaah," Zyra sighed. "This is way better than that town. All the grass, and the trees, and no stupid buildings!"

_For the record, I wouldn't have minded sleeping inside_, Darkfire muttered. _It was cold on the roof. _

_Stop trying to bring me down, _Zyra replied.

Pecha shrugged. "It's fine out here. It was fine in the town too."

"You just haven't spent enough time outside," Zyra said.

"And it's possible you haven't spent enough time _inside_," Pecha countered.

"You would really hate the cities," Nami mused. "There aren't many trees there at all."

"Yeah, I'm never setting foot in a city," Zyra declared. "They're terrible!"

"You've never actually been in one," Pecha said. "So you don't actually know that from experience."

"I don't need to be in one to know I'd dislike it. In fact I think -"

_Zyra_! Darkfire yelled. _Get down!_

"Get down!" Zyra yelled aloud as she hit the dirt and rolled.

Zyra faintly heard Pecha moan, "Not again." Before seeing the girl hit the ground in front of her.

Something flew over Zyra's head and she asked Darkfire, _What's happening_?

_The raiders from yesterday_, Darkfire explained.

Zyra's expression turned fierce as she rolled into a crouch. The Machamp that had swung at her seemed confused its fist had missed. Pecha was on the ground next to Zap and Nami was crouching out of the way further down.

"Hello little girls," greeted the man Darkfire had threatened the day before.

_I should have hit him_, Darkfire grumbled.

_No point regretting the past_, Zyra replied.

There were five men this time and five Machamp._ Is this like, the Machamp gang or something_? Zyra wondered. Her right hand grazed along her Poké Balls. Pecha only had Zap and Zyra wasn't sure how much that was worth. Zyra knew nothing of Nami's experience, but she had lost the day before. This left Zyra with the decision to treat this fight as if she were the only fighter. She sent out Treecko and Butterfree.

During her internal debate, Zap had gotten her jaws around the torso of one of the Machamp and the Machamp had fallen, sparks flying off it.

_Paralyzed_, Zyra realized. _Nice one Zap._

Another Machamp had been frozen into a solid ice cube curtesy of Yuki. _Suppose I shouldn't have counted them out_, Zyra thought.

There were three remaining Machamp who hadn't been given any status effects and Zyra pointed at them, saying, "Butterfree, Psybeam!" Butterfree sent out a wave of psychic energy at one of the Machamp, weakening it. "Treecko, Mega Drain!" The third Machamp, Zyra sent Darkfire at. Darkfire required no supervision knowing exactly what she needed to do. Dark was weak against fighting, but Zyra had no doubt Darkfire would win anyway.

Zyra was so focused on the Machamp she didn't notice the man next to her until he'd already swung. She managed to move her head out of the way, but his fist still hit her shoulder and she was knocked to the side, her head hitting the ground with a painful _thump_. Her vision blurred as she tried to focus on the fight. She'd been dazed, but she wouldn't let that stop her.

She grabbed her woodcarving knife and stabbed at where she thought her assailant's foot was. She missed, but his flinch was pronounced enough that she took note of it. Gradually, her vision was coming back and her next slice caught his shin, leaving the man holding the cut and swearing at her. He aimed a booted foot at her, but a bolt of lightning struck the ground between them, and the man backed off.

"Get away from her!" Pecha yelled. Zyra glanced towards the voice and saw Pecha standing, lightning arcing across her fingers. It was a startling sight, Zyra could of course channel the dark powers of Darkfire, but she wasn't able to control them very well. Certainly not with the skill Pecha was currently displaying. The men, upon seeing a girl wield lighting with her bare hands, grew suddenly nervous.

_Darkfire, give me some darkness_, Zyra asked. She wouldn't be as impressive as Pecha, but she could manage something to scare them. The dark powers Darkfire used suddenly became available to Zyra and she flinched, as she always did. The sudden influx of power into her human body was always painful as it was something her body really wasn't built to handle. She pushed down the discomfort and shot a blade of dark energy at the man closest to her. He jumped backwards. She quickly released her hold of the powers, letting out a small sigh of relief.

"They're Pokésouls!" Yelled one of the men, dodging out of the way of a small snow flurry Nami had created. "Let's go!" The men, followed by the Machamp ran away. Nami's snow soon faded, but Pecha's hands sparked for a few moments before they went out entirely. Zyra wondered how she was able to control it that long without succumbing to the pain.

"Are you alright Zyra?" Pecha asked. Zyra's Butterfree and Treecko seemed equally worried, both huddling next to her and making worried sounds at her.

"I'm fine," Zyra assured. "Is everyone else alright?" She petted her Butterfree and Treecko before returning them. Darkfire sauntered over, clearly uninjured.

"They never hit me," Pecha said.

"They didn't hurt me either," Nami added. "If I'd known they'd run away if I used Yuki's ice powers I'd have done that the first time."

"They reacted more strongly than I expected them too," Pecha added.

"It's a good thing they did," Zyra sighed. "That was close." She wiped the blood off her blade. In the grass and reattached it to her belt. She'd never had to use her knife for fighting before and hoped she wouldn't need to again, but she had a feeling that was a vain hope.

Pecha extended a hand to Zyra and helped her back to her feet. She stumbled slightly, but quickly found her balance.

"Here," Nami said holding something out to Zyra. It was a bottle full of some sort of liquid.

Zyra took and examined it suspiciously. "What is this?"

"It's medicine," Nami replied. "It should make your head feel better."

Zyra shrugged and poured the contents of the tiny bottle into her mouth. She immediately regretted it. "Ick!" She spluttered. "That tastes _awful_!" She picked up her water bottle and tried to rinse the horrific taste from her mouth.

"It works though," Nami said.

"I've never seen that before," Pecha said, picking up the empty bottle from where Zyra had dropped it.

"It's common in the cities," Nami explained. "It's used for most ailments there. They created it from studying some of the Pokémon's healing moves."

"Interesting," Pecha mused.

"Interesting? More like disgusting!" Zyra spat. "I think I'd rather have a head injury."

"It can't be _that_ bad," Pecha said.

"No, it kind of is," Nami admitted. "It really works though."

Zyra began eating an apple hoping it would perform better than the water at getting rid of the flavor.

"Have you got any more of that?" Pecha wondered.

"I'm not having anymore!" Zyra yelled through a mouthful of apple.

"I have a few more doses," Nami replied. "I'll buy some more in Hearthome too."

"It's good we have some more in case something else unexpected happens," Pecha said.

"Just let me die next time," Zyra whined.

_You're being overly dramatic_, Darkfire warned. _It can't have been that terrible_!

Zyra shared with Darkfire the memory of the taste through their bond and felt the Pokémon's immediate disgust.

_Never mind_, Darkfire said. _It is that bad. Never let me drink any of that._

"We've delayed here long enough, should we hit the road?" Pecha suggested.

"Hey Pecha," Zyra said as she began walking. "How were you able to use Zap's power for so long?"

"The more you practice using them the less it hurts," Pecha replied with a shrug. "I found a book on Pokésouls when I was younger so I practiced a lot. It doesn't really hurt me at all anymore."

"You practiced?" Zyra asked.

"Yeah," Pecha replied. "You hold some of the energy in your palm," Pecha demonstrated, holding out her hand which filled with a ball of sparks. "Then just hold it as long as you can. I started out being able to last a few seconds, now it doesn't bother me at all."

"Huh..." Zyra made a note to work on that at their next stop.

* * *

Sky and Lucinda walked towards the designated meeting point. They were currently working for two people who paid ridiculous amounts of money for things. The two were... strange if one was being polite. Completely insane and creepy as Banette if one were being truthful. Sky didn't really care who she worked for, but she had to admit that they gave even her weird feelings.

"The meeting is in there," Sky said pointing at a small tavern on the side of the road. It wasn't part of a town, instead it was a place where travelers could rest during their journeys between towns.

"I'll stay out here," Lucinda said, taking up a position by the door. Sky nodded and pushed the door open, Locke following her closely. They liked to split up in case it was a trap, that was one of them would be able to rescue the other, or just escape themselves (no honor among assassins and all).

_I don't like these people_, Locke murmured.

_I don't either. They have no sense of humor_, Sky replied.

_Be on your guard_, Locke insisted.

Sky spotted the two who had given her the job. The two were twins, a boy and a girl. They both had brown hair, the girl's longer than the boy's and they stared at the empty space in front of them, completely expressionless. _It's like they're robots_, Sky mused.

_Maybe they are_, Locke said._ It would explain a lot_.

_Like why they don't laugh at my jokes_. Sky slipped into the booth across from them and grinned. She dropped the Moltres statue on the table and said, "One Moltres statue. As promised."

The girl, Opal, looked at the statue with blank eyes. "Good work. Here is your payment." The boy, Onyx, reached under the table, grabbed a bag and placed it on the table. It made a satisfying clinking noise. Sky reached for the bag and inspected the contents. They'd been promised one hundred gold pieces. Sky didn't care to count it, after all with all the jobs she'd completed she was fairly wealthy, but she had to make sure they weren't pulling one over on her. And Lucinda got really whiny if she didn't get her full cut.

"We have another task for you," Opal said. She slid a paper towards Sky.

Curious, Sky took the paper and unfolded it. Inside was written two words. Starlight Suta.

"What is this?" Sky asked.

"We need you to take care of her. The reward is two hundred gold," Opal said. Then she abruptly stood turned and walked to the door, her movements mechanical. Her brother took the statue and followed his sister.

_I think maybe they really are robots, _Sky mused. _They make Lucinda seem downright emotional_.

_They really creep me out, _Locke admitted_. Maybe we should do some other job? _

_No, I want to know what this is all about. Don't you love a good mystery?_

_Yes, _Locke said. _But I get a bad feeling around those two. _

_Don't worry, _Sky said confidently._ We can handle anything! And if things go wrong we can just use Lucinda as a distraction and run away_.

The two left the tavern and found Lucinda sitting outside playing with her Ditto, Morph. "Hey Red," Sky said.

"Did we get our money?" Lucinda asked all business again.

"Of course," Sky replied throwing the bag to Lucinda. Lucinda would likely take more than her fair share, but Sky didn't care. What she loved you couldn't buy with money anyway. "They also gave us another task."

"We're working for the robo-twins some more?" Lucinda asked reluctantly.

"Hey! Robo-twins, that was a good one!"

"Does that mean I can have some of your gold?" Lucinda asked.

"You can have two pieces for that one," Sky replied.

_It wasn't that great_, Locke said.

_No, but for Lucinda that was amazing_, Sky pointed out. _We're trying positive reinforcement, remember?_

"What do they want us to do?" Lucinda asked.

"They want us to 'take care of' a girl named Starlight Suta."

"Take care of like kill or actually take care of her?"

"Uh...I assumed kill but...actually I have no idea. Their voices have no inflection."

"Should we go after them and get them to clarify?"

"Nah, I don't want to talk to them more than I have to. How about, we find this girl and just maim her a bit! Then if we are supposed to look out for her, she's easy to take care of because she can't move! And if we _are_ supposed to kill her, she's easy to kill because she can't move!"

"Well let's find her first. We can decide what to do after that," Lucinda said.

"I guess it's time to visit River then. You think she can find her with just a name?"

"It's River. She can find out anything."

"Okay, but we need to stop in a town first."

"Why?" Lucinda asked.

"I need to buy her a present." Sky grinned evilly at Lucinda.

"Just don't permanently alienate her," Lucinda said. "She's useful."

Sky just laughed maniacally in response.

* * *

_Zyra's Lessons in Civilization:_

_Money Explanation:_

"I don't understand the monetary system here," Nami said looking at a gold coin.

"I don't understand the monetary system anywhere," Zyra commented.

"It's pretty simple out here," Pecha said. "100 coppers makes 1 silver and 100 silvers makes 1 gold. So it's about five copper for an apple, one silver for a book and five silvers for things like knives. Gold pieces are generally only used for things like buying really nice furniture, houses and pieces of tech."

"Huh," Zyra said nodding, though her expression was confused.

"It's much easier in the city," Nami sighed. "Everything there was in dollars. And all you had to do was scan your ID to pay for things."

"ID?" Zyra asked.

Nami reached into her pocket and pulled out a rectangular card. She showed it to Zyra. "Everyone in the city has one of these. It's our identification card. It shows who we are and it is linked to our financial accounts. All the money is virtual, so this is all I would need to pay for things."

Zyra looked at the card. It was pale blue and there was a picture of Nami on it, though it appeared a few years out of date. Her name was written under the picture and her gender and birthday were written beside it.

"That thing let's you pay? It's just a card," Zyra said confused.

Nami shrugged. "I don't really know how it works," she said. "But it does."

"The back has a special strip that is scanned by machines that read the data and are able to identify you and your account information," Pecha explained.

"...Why do you know that?" Zyra yelled.

"Documentary," Pecha shrugged.


	5. Blackout

**Author's Note:**

**_ATTENTION_: Could the people who submitted OCs please let me know if you're reading this? There are a lot of characters and if people aren't reading then I might cut their characters out, I'd rather spend more time on the characters of people who are actually reading this. That said, you can ignore this if your character has already showed up or if you are one of my regular reviewers (I love you guys :D). I'm only going to ask this once, I'm not going to force you to review or anything like that, I just want to know who's reading. And if, for whatever reason, you start reading later and I'm still writing, let me know because it might not be too late to add your character back in. Thank you! Please enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 4: Blackout

* * *

Lumiose City

The Guardian Force building was in what was considered the center of Lumiose along with a few of the other buildings important to the city. Inside the building there were several different divisions. Each division had a large communal room which had adjoining offices for the higher ranking members of that division. In one of these divisions sat a man behind a desk. Upon his desk was a metal plaque which had the name 'Preston Rolfe' engraved on it. He slumped in a chair, grey eyes staring vacantly in front of him. Uneven steel grey hair covered most of his face and he raised a gloved hand to push some of it out of the way. It immediately fell back into his face.

Preston dropped his hands to the desk, the left one making a louder thump than the right as the Keystone embedded in it impacted with the wood. A black covered finger carefully traced the impact area, but there appeared to be no damage.

Clearly bored, the man fiddled with the sleeves of his dark blue hoodie and with the golden badge clipped to it on the right side of his chest. Upon the badge was the figure of an Arcanine, the symbol that signified that Preston was a Major Guardian. On the opposite side of his sweater there was a small shield stitched in with an ornate letter 'P' atop it. His feet, clad in black sneakers, tapped against the floor impatiently, a tempo that was quickly matched by his fingers against the desk.

Preston had recently been put in charge of the newly created Pokésoul division of the Guardians. Previously, he had been leading an information division, a job he had quite enjoyed, but now he had been moved here. The creation of the division was completely ridiculous for several reasons. First, the Guardians had had Pokésoul members before that were a part of the normal divisions and that had worked well for everyone. The second and most obvious flaw in their plan is simply that there were no Pokésouls when they created it. So they had literally put Preston in charge of an empty department. The only person he had still been in charge of was Kai, and that was only because the girl had walked all over the one other person who had tried to be her contact. Now everyone else was too afraid to deal with her. Preston had never been particularly happy about this fact until now.

Moving Preston here really felt like a punishment, but Preston knew that he hadn't done anything to deserve this command. The reason he'd been given for his reassignment was that he was married to a Pokésoul so he understood them best. As if they were some other species or something. Another misery on top of the other so this assignment was that being here reminded him of his wife, Scarlet, who was away on a personal mission in the Outerlands. Preston hadn't seen her in several weeks now and missed her dearly, especially since there was no indication of how long it might take her finish her business and return. He couldn't even distract himself with his job because he basically didn't have one.

Due to the lack of Pokésouls in the department, his primary task was recruitment, something which he really didn't enjoy. Plus it turned out that Pokésouls were extremely hard to find. The current number in Preston's division was now two and it didn't seem likely to grow any time soon.

The door opened with a slight creak and someone came into the room. "Wolf, you're late," Preston said, his tone the perfect mix of derision and uncaring. He couldn't have anyone knowing how irritated he actually got when people were late.

"Sorry boss," Wolf said. "But it's not like we have anything to do anyway."

Much as it pained Preston to admit, Wolf was right. They didn't have any assignments yet so the days were spent either recruiting or looking over old case files. Which was up there with counting ceiling tiles on the boredom scale.

"Do you know where Wyvrn is?" Preston asked.

"No way! I don't spend more time with him then I need to. His Kadabra threatened Silvia once!"

"Well she stole Wyvrn's keys first so that wasn't entirely unprovoked."

"She was just pointing out that he needs to keep his keys in a safer place," Wolf said. Silvia gave Preston a pitiful look, which Preston noted impassively. He'd long since grown immune to such tactics. He could admit empirically though, that it was an impressively pitiful face.

"Don't steal anything else," Preston told the Sylveon. Silvia huffed at him and turned away sulkily.

"What are we doing today boss?" Wolf asked.

"Recruiting," Preston said. "I want you to go down to the lower level and see if you can find any Pokésouls."

"Why the lower level?"

"They might not have seen the TV ads."

"Do they not have TV's there?"

"Wolf," Preston warned. "What's the rule?"

"One question an hour," Wolf replied sulkily. Preston had implemented the rule the day after Wolf had joined when he found himself barraged with questions every few minutes. He admired the curiosity really, Preston loved knowledge as well, but the constant interruptions were too much to handle. Questions actually important to the job were, of course, exempt. A loophole Wolf exploited as often as possible.

Wolf walked out, hands in his pockets followed by Silvia, who paused to give Preston a devious glance which Preston had learned meant she'd just stolen something. After checking his desk and pockets he found he was missing a pen. He hadn't even noticed the Pokémon get near him.

"I liked that pen," Preston muttered aloud.

Preston took one of the Poké Balls from the belt on his grey pant and released the Pokémon inside. A Vanilluxe appeared and made happy noises at Preston.

"Hi Frosty!" Preston said, the blank, almost cold expression he'd been wearing before morphing into a smile. "Silvia stole my pen." Frosty made a comforting sound and Preston smiled at the Pokémon. Frosty offered Preston an ice cream cone. How the Pokémon kept ice cream in its Pokéball was a mystery Preston had given up answering long ago.

"Uh, what are you doing boss?"

Wolf stood half in the door staring at Preston like he'd just grown a second head.

Preston dropped the ice cream and reached for his aloof persona. "One question Wolf. You've used it."

"Right... I was just going to... It doesn't matter I'll just go now." Wolf backed out slowly, as if he were afraid Preston was going to attack him if he turned his back until he faded from sight, the door slamming shut behind him.

"I need to get an alarm for that door," Preston muttered. Frosty looked sadly at the fallen ice cream. "Sorry, I didn't mean to drop it," Preston apologized.

"Vanilluxe," Frosty said acceptingly.

* * *

A man walked up the stairs of the Guardian Force building, a black trench coat snapping behind him and making his every step a dramatic one. White hair clashed with the coat making him even more striking. His eyes, though, they were they eyes of demons. Deep crimson red and usually filled with aloofness or dislike. Behind him walked a Kadabra.

Another white haired boy walked down the steps and stopped near the red-eyed man. "Hi Wyvrn," the other boy said.

Wyvrn's gaze focused on Wolf. "What?"

"Nothing!" Wolf replied, holding his hands in front of him in self defense. "Just saying hi!"

"Whatever," Wyvrn growled and began up the steps again, his black boots making satisfying stomping noises with every step.

_He's irritating, _the Kadabra noted_. _

_Indeed, _Wyvrn agreed_. I'd like to punch him but I'd probably be fired and sent back to prison.  
_

_Yes, it's best not to assault co-workers,_ Kadabra agreed.

Wyvrn pushed open the door and walked inside the Guardian Force building. The bottom floor was open to the public and was where people went to give any information they might have. Wyvrn bypassed this and entered an elevator. Preston's division was on the third floor and Wyvrn was soon standing before the door to the Pokésoul division. He went inside.

Preston was sitting behind his desk with a book open. By his feet there was some sort of puddle, like melted ice cream. How and why that was there baffled Wyvrn, but he wouldn't question a superior about it.

Preston lowered the book. "Wyvrn. Did you have any success?"

"None," Wyvrn replied. "I encountered a Pokésoul, but he refused to join."

"You didn't get into any fights did you?"

"None," Wyvrn said, his voice a bit tighter. Wyvrn was getting jittery. He loved fighting and he hadn't been able to for a while now. The lack of outlet was getting to him.

"See that it stays that way."

Wyvrn found his commanding officer incredibly condescending, but he really didn't have much of a choice but to follow orders. He had taken a vow to serve the Guardians and obey the orders of his commander. Wyvrn always kept his word. Quitting wasn't an option either, before he'd gotten this job he'd been about to spend some time in prison on charges of assault. If he quit this job, he'd be sent right back.

Wyvrn did have a bit of an...unhealthy love of fighting, but he still didn't think the fight was his fault. The ignorant cur had insulted the works of his favorite author and had deserved to be attacked. Several people had attempted to explain to Wyvrn that he should accept differences of opinion and he had genuinely tried, but it had yet to have an effect.

"Do you have any other assignments for me?" Wyvrn asked.

"Keep looking for Pokésouls," Preston replied. "If something comes up I'll inform you."

Wyvrn nodded at his superior and walked back out the door. _Let's go to the library, _he said to Kadabra.

_Yeah, there are probably a bunch of Pokésouls there. We should spend all day there to make sure we find them all, _Kadabra agreed.

_My thoughts exactly_.

* * *

A few hours later Wyvrn lounged in one of the reclining chairs at the library, a book in his hands. It was a history book, and not a particularly well written one but Wyvrn had made it his goal to read every book the library had so he was determined to finish it. Even if the author had a way of butchering history so severely it read like some teen fantasy novel.

_You should just skip it_, Kadabra suggested. The Pokémon was sitting in a chair near Wyvrn's. A book floated in front of it, held there by psychic powers, the pages flipping seemingly of their own volition every so often.

_I'm more than half-way done. I might as well finish now_, Wyvrn replied, cringing at some truly awful dialogue. He had time for a few more pages before he was interrupted by the vibrating of his cell phone. With a measure of relief, he marked his place and answered the phone.

"Guardian Wyvrn," he said.

"Wyvrn, there's been an incident," Preston's voice said. "Get back to headquarters."

"Yes sir." He stood, smoothing down the black fabric of his shirt before smoothly donning his trench coat back on. He and Kadabra left the library, his coat flowing behind him like a shadow.

* * *

Kai worked nights at the Drunken Magikarp so she was free during the days. On this particular day she was sitting at her computer investigating the past of one Wolf Winters. After all, she couldn't be expected to hear a story as interesting as that and just _leave_ it. So far all she'd found was what he'd told her, he had gone missing for a couple months, then returned with no memory, though he did have a Sylveon. She'd yet to find any other information or even a clue as to where he could have gone. As she was reading another new entry about the event, her computer screen suddenly went blank. Confused, she tried to restart but nothing happened. She glanced out the window and found that everything was dark.

* * *

Christina was on her rounds of checking on the Pokémon when she noticed something odd. A woman walked past her. While not odd in and of itself, it was no one Christina recognized, and she knew everyone who worked there. The woman had long brown hair, pulled back into a severe looking bun and was dressed in the same practical style the workers tended towards, but Christina was almost certain she didn't belong. It was possible she was new, but new people were usually introduced to Christina. Deciding to trust her feelings, Christina followed the woman.

The woman walked down the halls without hesitation, never pausing at a turn.

Eventually she reached a dead end and stopped before the wall. There was nothing of importance down here and Christina wondered why this was the target. The woman reached into her bag and took out a small box shaped object. After fiddling with it for a few seconds she placed it on the ground, giving Christina a clear view of the device. It was a bomb.

"What are you doing?" Christina yelled forgoing stealth.

The woman's head turned towards her and she was regarded without compassion. There was no hint of emotion in the woman's face at all. "Nature will prevail," the woman said as she pressed a button on top of the bomb. The timer began to count down.

Christina hesitated for a second, then sprinted back down the hallway. She released her Flygon, Fly, and told it, "Set off the alarm!" Fly took off and Christina kept running for the doors. She yelled at everyone she saw to run, though the warning alarm soon went off and people began evacuating on their own. As she was nearing the door to the outside, she remembered Kirtus. He always slept through the alarm drills. She quickly doubled back to his station. If he died because she didn't check, she would never forgive herself.

Kirtus was awake, but confused, looking around himself.

"We have to run," Christina said, pulling on his arm.

"What's going on?" He asked though he passively let her drag him.

"There's a bomb, we need to get -" The word 'out' was eaten by the rumbling roar of an explosion and the sharp crackling of sparks it set off. Christina closed her eyes and covered her head with her arms knowing it wouldn't help. She waited for pain, but it never came. Slowly, she cracked her eyes open and the world was red and green. _Fly_! She realized. Kirtus was still beside her and he appeared to be uninjured as well.

"Protect," Kirtus mused.

Christina's grandfather had given her the TM Protect as a present when she first started working at the power plant. Now it had just saved her life. Kirtus's too.

The same could not be said for the rest of the plant. Christina and Kirtus stood in an oasis of order among charred floors, broken metal and sparking computers. What she did not see were any bodies and Christina hoped with all her heart that that was true for the rest of the plant. Hopefully the alarm was sounded quickly enough for everyone to evacuate.

"We should get out of here," Kirtus said, this time being the one to lead. Christina followed, keeping one hand on Fly drawing reassurance from her Pokémon. They ran into some obstructions, but Kirtus had his Crobat clear them and they made their way out fairly quickly.

"This isn't going to be an easy fix is it?" Christina asked.

"No. It isn't." Kirtus sounded about as grim as she'd ever heard him and Christina worried. Her whole life had been the plant, what was left now? And why would someone have wanted to destroy it in the first place? That woman, who was she?

They exited the power plant to the sight of their coworkers and what appeared to be the entirety of the Lumiose police force. Christina recognized the badges of Guardian Force officers in the crowd as well. Fly was panting tiredly next to her, so Christina returned the Flygon so it could rest. "Thank you," she said to its Pokéball.

"Christina! Kirtus!" Tavis yelled, hugging both of them. "I'm so glad you're both alright. When you weren't out here we thought..."

"We're fine," Christina assured. "Is everyone else?"

"It looks like everyone's survived. There are a lot of people injured though."

"You two were in the plant?" An officer asked. He wore the standard black uniform of the Lumiose police.

"Yes," Christina replied.

"Did you see anyone suspicious?"

"Yes."

"Right then we - wait you did?" It was clearly not the answer the officer had been expecting.

"I didn't," Kirtus offered.

"I saw the woman who planted the bomb," Christina said. "She was about as tall as Kirtus with long brown hair and dark brown eyes. And right before she set the bomb off she said, 'Nature will prevail.'"

"Nature will prevail?" This question came not from the officer, but from a younger girl with black hair. The girl wore a bright red outfit which made her stand out sharply from the rest of the crowd, who mainky wore black or brown.

"Yes. Is it important?"

"No," the officer said. "Thank you for the description. We'll find her." The man walked off.

"He's wrong," the girl said. "It _is_ important. My name is Kai and I work with the Guardians. My boss at the Guardian Force would be really interested in what you heard. Do you mind coming in?"

"The Guardian Force?" Christina gasped. Kai nodded. "Uh, yeah I'll go. If it will help."

"It will," Kai assured.

"Why can't we speak with the Guardians already here?," Kirtus asked.

"They don't know all the things my boss does. They'll ignore her just like that officer did. If you guys really want to find who did this, you need to speak with my boss."

"I'll go," Christina said again.

"If she's going then I'm going too," Kirtus said.

Kai studied him for a moment, then nodded. "Fine, you can come too."

Kai walked followed by the two power plant workers away from the wreckage and fires that were still being put out. They passed several people flocking towards the fire, wanting to see what was happening. One of them stopped and spoke to Kai.

"Hi Kai!" He said. The boy had white hair and was being followed by a Sylveon. Christina caught sight of something catching the dull light on his coat and saw a small golden badge with the image of a Growlithe on it. He was a Guardian.

"Wolf, what are you doing here?" Kai asked.

"I was down here for recruitment and heard the blast. So what's going on?"

"A bomb went off," Christina said.

"That must have been a big bomb," Wolf mused, staring at the smoke trailing up in the distance.

"It wasn't," Christina contradicted.

"Really?"

"The bomb didn't have to be big," Kirtus explained. "All they had to do was breach the containment walls, then the plant took itself down."

"That doesn't seem very safe," Wolf commented.

"As long as no one _tries_ to break it it's fine," Kirtus said.

"What about the east city?" Christina asked, looking upwards at the darkened city floating above her. "They have no power now."

"They're on emergency power. They'll have to conserve power but the other three plants should generate enough excess energy for the eastern section of the city to function. Rebuilding this plant is definitely a priority though."

"How many people were hurt?" Wolf asked as Kai resumed walking.

"The numbers are still coming it, but it seems at least twenty people were badly injured. The Pokémon were all fine though," Kai replied. "If the alarm hadn't been set off it would have been a lot worse."

"And who are those two?"

"They were at the plant. I'm bringing them to see Preston."

"Preston? Why?"

"The girl heard something I think Preston will want to hear about." The four people (plus a Sylveon) arrived at the elevator to the upper level. They rode up in silence. Christina stepped out into the sunlight and looked around in awe. "Wow!" She exclaimed.

"Have you never been up here before?" Wolf asked.

"No, never," Christina replied.

"This way," Kai said bringing Christina's attention back to the matter at hand. As they walked Christina marveled at the cars whizzing by and the colorfully decorated shops. And the clothes! There was so much more variety than she was used to. Down on the lower level it was all functional and kind of dull. But up here, some of the clothes were styled so ridiculously they must have been uncomfortable. Some she couldn't even fathom how the people wearing them had managed to put them on. Gradually the busy streets gave way to foliage and the group was walking through a park. Christina had seen them on TV, but had never seen so many trees in real life.

"This is amazing!" She said to Kirtus.

Kirtus nodded idly, or perhaps that was just his head bobbing as he slept, Christina wasn't certain. The boy was definitely awake when they arrived at the Guardian headquarters though. "This is our base," Kai told them. She marched up the stairs, Wolf walking beside her with his hands behind his head.

Inside Christina and Kirtus were herded to an elevator and soon were standing before a door on the third floor. Kai opened it and gestured for everyone to go inside.

Christina walked in and saw two people inside. A man with grey hair sat behind a desk, the pin on his shirt bearing the image of an Arcanine, not a Growlithe like Wolf's. The other person was younger, though still older than Christina. He looked at her with intense red eyes and Christina quailed.

"Hey Preston," Kai greeted.

"Kai. Who are these people?" asked the man behind the desk.

"This is Christina Oak and Kirtus Hendrik," Kai introduced. Christina was fairly sure she had never told Kai her name and wondered how she knew. "They are, well _were_, workers at the eastern power plant. Christina saw the person who planted the bomb."

"She should be talking with the department overseeing that investigation then," Preston pointed out.

"She already told an officer what she saw, but I think you would be interested in what she _heard_." Kai waved at Christina to speak.

"Oh! Uh, she said, 'nature will prevail.'"

"Nature will prevail? Are you sure?" Preston's face had become hard and his eyes searched hers intensely.

"Yes, that's what she said. Why does it matter?" Christina asked.

"I'd like to know that too," Wolf added.

"It's the slogan of Nature's Guardians," Wyvrn said. "But their organization is all but dead now. It was likely a lone operative."

"No," Kai refuted. "There is no way one lone person managed to get into the power plant with a bomb without anyone noticing. It would have required several people."

"I agree," Preston said. "Unfortunately, no one else is likely to."

"Meaning what?" Wolf asked.

"Meaning we'll have to deal with this ourselves."

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but who are the Nature's Guardian?" Christina asked.

"They're a group in the Outerlands," Preston explained. "They thought of themselves as the Guardians of the Outerlands, and so they called themselves Nature's Guardians. But at some point they decided the only way to help people in the Outerlands was to fight with us, the Guardian Force, and they were considered terrorists after that. They were really active several years ago, but the Guardians caught most of the leaders and the group mostly disbanded. They haven't tried anything in years. I never imagined they'd disappeared completely, but this is odd behavior for them."

"What do you mean by that?" Wolf asked.

"Their targets before were government or Guardian officials. They never wanted to hurt innocent people. That bomb did."

"With a change in leadership the organization may have completely changed," Wyvrn said.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Preston replied.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Christina asked.

"Me too," Kirtus added. "They destroyed our home and hurt our friends."

"Well, I'm not exactly in in a position to turn help down," Preston said with a sigh, though he was clearly reluctant to accept. "But be sure, this could get dangerous."

"Get dangerous?" Christina snorted. "I was almost blown up this morning. It already _is_ dangerous."

"Fair point. Alright, Kai I want you to find out all you can about the bombing. That's the most important thing right now. We need more intel before we can move forward."

"Right," Kai agreed. "Want to help?" She asked Christina.

"Me?" Christina replied.

"Yep! You can be my protege!" Kai grabbed Christina's arms and dragged her away.

"Have fun," Kirtus called after them waving passively.

* * *

Kirtus sat in the room with the three Guardians wanting desperately to go to sleep. It had been at least two hours since he'd gotten a nap. That was much too long.

"What do you need us to do boss?" Wolf asked.

"It's pretty safe to assume that the power plant was just their first target, but without knowing what the other targets are there isn't much we can do yet. Wolf, you and Kirtus go back to the plant and see if you can find out anything."

"Yes boss," Wolf agreed.

"Wyvrn go down to the Outerlands task force and see if anyone has reported anything about Nature's Guardians lately." Wyvrn stalked away, his Kadabra following in his shadow.

"Come on!" Wolf said to Kirtus, holding the door open. Kirtus yawned hugely, then walked out the door.

* * *

Wyvrn walked through the hallways with Kadabra towards the Outerlands branch. The very fact that the entire Guardian Force had one division for the entirely of the Outerlands about summed up the importance the cities gave the people out there.

Wyvrn knocked on the door and entered before anyone could respond. The division was similar to the Pokésoul one except that this one had more people. Each division had back rooms and they appeared to actually be in use here. Preston never bothered since there were only three people in their division (four if you counted Kai).

"Who are you?" asked a man at one of the desks.

"Wyvrn. I'm here to get information on Nature's Guardians." Wyvrn replied.

"Nature's Guardians?" The man laughed. "They've been gone a long time! No one talks about them anymore."

"Wrong," Wyvrn said, his voice growing cold, a sure sign of his anger. He loathed stupidity. "People discuss them all the time, even if it is in the past tense."

"Nobody I've talked to does."

"Do you even speak to people in the Outerlands?"

"Why would I? I don't wanna talk to those people!"

"It is your job. You've made a vow to do something so you should do it," Wyvrn's eyes were narrowing with dislike and his fists clenched at his side. This man was practically the embodiment of the things Wyvrn hated, stupid and dishonorable.

_Wyvrn_, Kadabra warned. _No fighting_. Wyvrn's fingers slowly relaxed.

"Is there anyone else here who might know more?" Wyvrn asked, his voice still tight with anger.

The man turned and yelled at his coworkers, "Anyone got any recent info on Nature's Guardians?" No one even seemed to notice the man's yell. "We got nothing."

Wyvrn fought down another urge to fight the man. He knew exactly how it would play out: he would kick the desk, the man would double over. Quick jump and Wyvrn would be in position to shove him to the side away from his gun. Then -

_Wyvrn_, Kadabra snapped. _Let's go. _

_...Right_. Wyvrn turned and walked away, his fingers still twitching with restrained urges.

* * *

"Silvia is very cute," Kirtus said, holding the Sylveon in his arms. Silvia made a flattered sound.

"Isn't she adorable?" Wolf gushed. "Silvia is the best Pokémon a partner could hope for!" Wolf continued on in this vein for the entire walk to the elevator. Kirtus zoned out part way through and hoped Christina was alright.

"What was it like working in the power plant?" Wolf asked when he had finally exhausted the Silvia topic.

Kirtus shrugged. "They didn't mind when I fell asleep during work," he said.

"They didn't?"

"Nah."

"I think Preston would get his Charizard to fry me if I fell asleep," Wolf mused. "Although we don't really do anything anyway so I guess he might not notice. I'm pretty sure Wyvrn's not actually working all the time he says he is."

"What do you do exactly?"

"Recruit people," Wolf replied. The elevator doors opened and the two boys stepped out.

"Recruit people," Kirtus repeated.

"Well, Pokésouls specifically. We haven't had any luck yet though. This is our first _real_ investigation! Since I've been here anyway. How long did you work at the plant anyway?"

"About four years," Kirtus replied.

"Wow," Wolf said. "I'm only two weeks into my first job!"

Kirtus shrugged. "We needed the money," he said.

"Your family?"

"Yeah," Kirtus's brow furrowed. "While we're down here I need to go tell them what happened."

"You can go ahead and do that," Wolf said. "I'll start investigating the plant and I'll meet you there!"

"Thanks," Kirtus said and split off from Wolf to go see his parents. Christina lived nearby so he'd make sure to visit her grandfather as well.

* * *

Wolf and Silvia quickly arrived at the plant, much emptier now as the spectators had all left to go about their lives. The outer shell of the plant was still intact so it wasn't until you opened the door that the extent of the damage was truly felt. Inside the place was a complete wreck.

_What should we check first_? Wolf wondered.

_The report said no Pokémon were hurt, we should look at their living area_, Silvia suggested.

Wolf found the door to the basement surprisingly intact. When he opened it, it appeared as if nothing had even happened to the plant. None of the Pokémon were there, they'd been evacuated, but that was the only sign anything was wrong. Nothing appeared the slightest bit broken. _Well, if this really is the work of Nature's Guardians they wouldn't have wanted to hurt the Pokémon_, Wolf theorized.

_They were originally against hurting innocent people as well, _Silvia pointed out_. There was never any power stored down here, it's possible this area wasn't intentionally unaffected. _

_Worth mentioning anyway I suppose_.

The two left the basement and began looking around the main areas for any clues. After only a few minutes of searching Wolf was fairly certain they wouldn't find anything. The plant was well and truly destroyed. A few pieces of equipment here and there looked salvageable and some of the rooms weren't too horribly damaged, but nothing in there was going to give Wolf any answers about who had done this.

Kirtus showed up as Wolf was inspecting one of the less damaged panels. "Did you find anything?" Kirtus asked.

"A lot of debris and smashed up electronics," Wolf replied. "Nothing useful."

"That's a shame," Kirtus sighed.

"Do you know where the bomb went off?" Wolf asked, turning towards the boy.

"Yeah, Christina said it was this way." Kirtus led Wolf down a hallway and around the bend to a dead end. "The bomb was here," Kirtus pointed at a crater where a wall used to be.

_See anything_? Wolf asked Silvia, knowing her eyes were better than his.

_Nothing worth stealing_, Silvia replied. _Or that would help us, _she added hastily.

"Nothing here," Wolf sighed. "I guess it was a long shot anyway. We should go report back to Preston." When Wolf didn't get a response from Kirtus, he turned and found the other boy leaning on a wall, asleep. "Uh, Kirtus?" Wolf asked. The boy remained asleep.

_What should we do_? Wolf wondered.

_See if he's got anything valuable! _Silvia grinned mischievously and darted towards the sleeping boy.

_Silvia_, Wolf sighed. Wolf grabbed Kirtus's shoulder and shook him gently. Kirtus's eyes flicked open.

"Oh, did I fall asleep? Sorry about that." He yawned and stretched, then straightened.

"Can you fall asleep anywhere?" Wolf wondered.

"Yep."

"Impressive."

"Did you find anything?"

"No, we should go tell Preston that there's nothing of interest here. Hopefully Kai will have more luck."

* * *

_Wolf asks questions:_

_City Walls_

"So I've always wondered, the city walls don't cover the entire city. Why don't people just fly over them?" Wolf asked.

"Idiot," Wyvrn replied.

"That doesn't answer my question," Wolf muttered.

"There's a invisible barrier that covers the entire city," Preston explained. "If anyone tries to fly in, or out for that matter, they'd run into it."

"Hmm," Wolf mused. "Then why bother having the concrete wall at all?"

"Well, the barrier is completely invisible so people kept running into it," Preston replied.


	6. Halloween Special

**Author's Note:**

**THIS ISN'T THE REAL NEXT CHAPTER. THAT WILL BE UP TOMORROW.**

**This is just a short one-shot Halloween special I wrote. Pretty obviously not canon with the rest of the story and it takes place in a modern day setting, but with Pokésouls.**

**I didn't spend very long on this so it's a bit rough, but hopefully it's at least slightly entertaining :) **

**So Happy Halloween everyone! Frosty gives virtual ice cream to you all! Just don't drop yours like Preston did.**

* * *

Halloween Special or Vampires in Lumiose

* * *

In the darkness a creature lurked, human in shape, but monstrous in nature. It slipped between buildings, one with the darkness, until it found a soul foolish enough to walk alone after dark. When the creature was done with that person, they were nothing but a bloodless body on the ground.

* * *

A large van pulled up to the city of Lumiose, clearly having seen better days. It was missing one of the mirrors and the front window was cracked severely on the passenger's side, creating a spiderweb effect across the glass. Add in a few dents to both fenders and it was clear the van had been through some rough times. On the side in red letters was writing, PPH (Pokésoul Paranormal Hunters).

A girl with long black hair was at the wheel, head tilted into an odd position to see out a portion of window not covered in cracks.

"Are we there yet?" complained a girl in the back whose name tag read, 'Zyra.'

"Obviously not," replied the girl whose name tag read 'Pecha'. "If we were we wouldn't still be _moving_."

The driver, whose name tag was labeled Nami, just sighed and didn't partake in the argument.

"Who are we going to see anyway?" asked Zyra.

Pecha pulled some papers out of the glovebox and flipped through them. "A detective in Lumiose named Preston Rolfe called us. He said that bloodless bodies have been turning up on the streets."

"Well that's a vampire," Zyra said. "Case closed."

"We're supposed to _stop_ the vampire," Nami informed.

"Oh. Well that's a lot harder. How do you even do that? Stake it?"

"That's what the lore says," Pecha replied. "It's usually right."

The conversation drew to a halt as Nami parked in front of the police station. The three girls got out followed by their Pokémon partners and headed up the stairs of the building. Zap remained outside as they had found that bringing Luxrays into occupied buildings tended to freak people out. Darkfire and Yuki however, were small enough not to be a bother. At the front desk they asked to see Preston Rolfe and the receptionist called him to the desk. Preston showed up and the grey haired man came to find them and brought them back to his office.

"You're the paranormal investigative team." It wasn't worded as a question, but Pecha replied anyway.

"Yep, that's us. I'm Pecha, that's Zyra and Nami."

"Thank you for coming," Preston said. "We've tried everything we can think of to catch the killer, but nothing's worked. Normally I think of your kind of people as con-artists, this is your chance to prove me wrong."

"We are not con-artists!" Zyra exclaimed. "We hunt supernatural creatures!"

"That's why you're here," Preston replied. "Though I would like to say now, for the record, you only get paid if you have proof you stopped whoever, or whatever, is doing this. If there's no proof, you don't get anything."

"Okay," Pecha said. "We'll bring proof."

"Wolf!" Preston called. A man with white hair poked his head in. "Bring these girls to the incident sights."

"Right!" He saluted and gestured for the investigators to follow him. "It isn't that far so we can just walk there," Wolf said as he lead the girls out of the building. They walked a few blocks down the road and into a deserted alleyway. "Here we are! So what do you think did it?"

"Probably a vampire," Nami replied.

"A vampire? Why do you think that?"

"The victims were drained of blood and they were all killed at night," Pecha answered.

"Have you ever caught a vampire before?"

"You like to ask questions don't you?" Zyra replied, stopping the boy before he could find out that the three had never even _seen_ a vampire before much less killed one.

Wolf nodded sheepishly. "Everyone in the office says I ask too many questions."

"Zyra," Pecha promoted. "Do your thing."

Zyra nodded, pulled out her wooden flute and began playing a sweet,lilting tune.

"What is she doing?" Wolf asked.

"Shh," Pecha whispered. "She needs quiet."

Zyra's melody continued and eventually Pokémon began to show up, looking at the girl from around dumpsters and rooftops. When several had gathered, Zyra ceased playing. Darkfire, Zyra's Umbreon, walked with Zyra to speak with the street Pokémon. Zyra had a special report with Pokémon, but the only one she could actually understand completely was Darkfire. However, Darkfire could understand other Pokémon so by using the Umbreon as a translator Zyra was able to speak with any Pokémon she wished. Pecha and Nami had Pokésoul partners as well, but neither girl had the special thing Zyra did that made Pokémon love her. The information Nami and Pecha got was generally useless,while Zyra's method brought the group valuable clues sometimes.

Zyra spoke with the Pokémon for a bit while Pecha looked for physical evidence. Nami was busying herself by taking pictures of the scene in case they needed to look at it again later.

All Pecha's investigation turned up was a piece of black fabric, not very helpful. Many people wore black and the texture was common as well. She kept it anyway, it could end being useful later.

The Pokémon slipped away back to where they came from and Zyra turned back to Pecha and Nami.

"Get anything?" Pecha asked.

"Not really," Zyra replied. "They saw a figure wearing black but that's all they could tell me. They didn't see the face and they were too far away to get any other physical features."

"There weren't any Pokémon nearby?" Wolf asked.

"Pokémon can sense the supernatural. They weren't around _because_ of the vampire, or whatever creature it is that did this."

"Let's go back to the station," Nami suggested. "Maybe we can get some clues from the body."

"Follow me!" Wolf said.

The three girls followed Wolf back to the station. "Winters," greeted a terrifying man with red eyes. He wore all black and a black trench coat hung on the chair behind him.

"Hey Wyvrn," Wolf greeted. "This is Wyvrn," Wolf said to the investigator girls. "He's my partner."

"Nice to meet you," Nami said politely while Pecha and Zyra gave the Crimson eyed man a wide berth. Wyvrn grunted in response and continued on his work.

"He was creepy," Zyra said once they were down the stairs and out of earshot.

"He's not that bad," Wolf assured. "Though you don't want to get on his bad side. He's a bit violent."

They arrived at the morgue and found a man sleeping at the admittance desk. "Kirtus!" Wolf yelled. The man startled awake.

"Huh?" Kirtus said.

"We need to see the body," Wolf told him.

"Oh, right," Kirtus said. "It's in number 103."

Wolf nodded in thanks and continued leading the girls. It was cold in the basement and Yuki seemed quite at home, floating in circles around Nami's head. They walked into the morgue and Wolf pulled out the slab labeled 103. She appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties and had pale blond hair that framed her face. She was completely uninjured, except for the two small bite marks on her neck.

"Definitely a vampire," Zyra said.

"Yeah," Pecha agreed. "But vampires don't _have_ to kill their prey, so there must have been some reason it killed this one."

"Some just like killing," Nami said sadly.

"What were the other victims like?" Pecha asked Wolf. "Did they look similar, or have the same sort of job? Is there anything connecting them?"

"We haven't been able to find anything," Wolf replied. "They were all found on different streets, they're different ages and as far as we can tell have nothing in common."

"Is this her cellphone?" Nami asked holding up an evidence bag.

"Yes," Wold said. Nami began flipping through the phone, tapping on the buttons through the plastic of the evidence bag.

"Find anything?" Pecha asked when the other girl put the phone down.

"No," Nami shook her head apologetically.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to go out tonight," Pecha said.

"Do you need backup?" Wolf asked.

"Nope," Pecha said. "We can handle this." _Probably_, the three girls all added mentally.

* * *

As the three walked past Wyvrn again Pecha noticed that his coat seemed frayed at the edge, as if it had been torn. The girls walked to their van and sat in the back, which was their home on the road and where they generally made their plans.

"So what's the plan?" asked Zyra. "Hang out in alleys at night and wait for it to show up?"

"Basically," Pecha said. "With the three of us and our three Pokémon partners we can have six areas of town under watch."

As they were discussing the details, there was a knock on the door. Suspiciously, Pecha opened it and peered out. A woman stood there and grinned mischievously at them. "Hi there! You're the supernatural investigators, right? Nami, Pecha and Zyra?"

"Yes…can we help you?" Nami asked.

"I'm Kai," the girl introduced. "And I think I have some information you may be interested in."

"What is it?" Pecha asked.

"I can't tell you here in the open!" Kai exclaimed. "Come back to my base."

"That's the sort of thing a murderer would say," Zyra pointed out.

"Well, you know I'm not a vampire," Kai said. "If I were I'd be on fire right now!"

"She does have a point," Nami admitted.

"She could be something else," Zyra refuted.

"And you'll never find out if you don't come with me," Kai pointed out.

"Okay," Pecha said cautiously. "We'll go with you."

"Great!" Kai closed the back door and ran around to the driver's seat and sat before the wheel. "Here we go!" she exclaimed and hit the gas before the other three girls had a chance to buckle their seat belts. Pecha hadn't even sat down and was flung against the back door. The three investigators managed to get themselves seated as Kai drove seemingly taking every turn as fast as possible without flipping the van.

Kai drove the girls through town and finally stopped in front of a small office in the outskirts of town. "Here we are," Kai announced. "This is my office!"

"What do you do exactly?" Pecha asked.

"I'm a private investigator. I work with the police a lot actually," Kai replied.

"If you work with the police why are we all the way out here?" Nami wondered. "Couldn't we have talked at the station?"

"You'll see! Come on!" Kai led them to the door and ushered them inside. It was a small office with two desks, one with a plaque reading Kai Akiyama, the second one reading Christina Oak. In front of the second desk sat a girl who was clicking around on her computer. "This is Christina," Kai introduced. "Christina, these are the paranormal investigators."

"Hello," Christina said distractedly.

"So why are we here?" Zyra asked impatiently.

"When you were in the office, did you happen to meet a man named Wyvrn?" Kai asked.

"Creepy guy, red eyes," Zyra replied. "Yeah we saw him."

"Did you know that he comes in before sunrise and leaves every day after dark? I've never once seen him in the sunlight. Isn't that odd? No one is _that_ devoted to their job."

"Odd, yes," Pecha agreed. "But that doesn't necessarily make him a vampire." Though as she said this she remembered the torn coat and the similar black fabric still in her pocket.

"No, but this does." Kai picked up a paper from her desk and thrust it at Pecha. Pecha grabbed it instinctively and examined it, Nami and Zyra peering at it from either side of her. Wyvrn was in the picture, mouth open and fangs tearing into a blood bag.

"Well, that's pretty definitive," Zyra said. "But if you know who the vampire is why haven't you told Preston?"

"He's just eating a blood bag in the photo," Christina replied. "And he didn't even steal that so the photo isn't actually proof of a crime."

"Right," Kai agreed. "We need to catch him in the act."

"We were going to patrol tonight and see if we could find him," Pecha said.

Kai nodded. "Good idea. So far all the victims were alone and walking through dark unpopulated areas so make sure to keep to those kinds of places. Here." She handed over a map with several places marked in red. "If I had to guess, I'd say that he's going to use one of those alleys tonight."

"Thanks," Pecha said, examining the map.

"Give us your phone numbers," Christina demanded. "We'll keep in contact and make sure none of you get eaten."

"I'll keep an eye on you through the street cams," Kai added. "None of them actually see into the alleys though. If they did we wouldn't be having this problem. But I should be close enough to be of some help."

Pecha, Nami and Zyra shared their numbers and left Kai and Christina.

"Can we trust them?" Zyra wondered. "Why can't they just do it themselves if they're so smart?"

"I think they were probably worried about getting eaten by a vampire," Nami replied.

"Cowards," Zyra muttered.

"Not everyone grew up fighting off wild Pokémon with their bare hands," Pecha commented. Zyra just scoffed.

* * *

Night fell and the three girls had separated, though they remained in contact with each other (and Kai and Christina) on the phone. They remained mostly silent, not wanting to give themselves away, but if anyone needed anyone else they'd be able to talk to them instantly.

Nami walked down one of the alleys, a bit unnerved by the silence. She wrapped her white sweater closer around her and shivered. Then she felt a creeping presence behind her. She whirled and caught the hand that was aimed at her head. Borrowing Yuki's powers briefly, she froze the hand.

It was immediately evident that the person attacking was not Wyvrn. The assailant was a small little girl, though her bared fangs marked her a vampire so her true age was likely much older than she appeared. Upon seeing her hand freeze, the girl did not react predictably, she _smirked, _then flexed her hand, shattering the ice. "You didn't really think that would work, did you?" she asked.

"Vampire!" Nami cried through the phone as she reached to her belt for her stake. She heard Zyra and Pecha announce that they were coming and held the stake out at the vampire.

"You're supposed to act more frightened," the vampire sighed. "It's boring if no one screams.

"Back off," Nami threatened.

"Why should I? You think you scare me?" The vampire bared her fangs the Nami threateningly.

"I can't let you eat anyone else," Nami said.

"Well, you brought this on yourself then," the vampire said and charged at Nami. Nami readied to stake the girl, but before the vampire could reach her there was a gunshot. The vampire fell, then managed to prop herself up on her arms. Her head turned and she was shot again. Nami looked upwards and saw Preston, holding a gun. Curls of smoke faded into the air from the barrel.

"So it really is a vampire," he mused.

Nami nodded. The girl was still twitching so Preston shot her again. The vampire stopped moving after that. "Is it dead?" he asked.

"Well, it was dead to start off with so that's not a great question," Pecha answered as she and Zyra wandered into the alley.

"Is it _re_-dead then?" Preston asked.

"Seems to be," Zyra said, kicking the body which showed no response.

"Okay. I guess I'll have to pay you guys," Preston sighed. "Even though _I'm _the one who actually killed the thing."

"I would have staked it," Nami protested. "How did you know I was here anyway?"

"Kai called."

"Nosy woman," Zyra muttered.

"We did have her on the call," Pecha pointed out.

"You three should get off the streets," Preston suggested. "I'll call this in and have some officers take care of it."

The girls nodded and went to their van to sleep through what was left of the night. Two of the night officers showed up and Preston handed the scene over to them.

* * *

The two officers looked at the body curiously. "You think it's really a vampire?" one of them asked.

"Rolfe seemed to think so," the other replied.

"It is," said a woman. The two officers looked at each other, then whirled towards the voice. A woman stood there, a red scarf wound around her neck. "I need her," she said, pointing at the corpse.

"This is a crime scene," the first officer said.

The woman grabbed the jacket of one of the officers and threw him against the wall. He hit it with a thud and fell to the ground, stunned. The other attempted to escape, but she kicked his legs out from under him and covered his nose and mouth until he passed out. With the guards dealt with, she approached the body.

The woman dropped the tote bag she was carrying and removed several bags of blood which she put in front of the body. The vampire's eyes suddenly opened and her fangs latched instantly onto one of the bags of blood. As she drank, the gunshot wounds healed and vanished as if they'd never happened in the first place.

"Thanks Red," the vampire said after finished off the last bag. "I wasn't expecting to get shot."

"It's just good they didn't stake you Sky. You wouldn't have recovered from that as easily," the woman referred to as Red said. "And my name is still Lucinda. Not Red."

Sky shrugged. "I think now would be a good time to skip town, don't you think?"

"I agree," Lucinda replied. "But make sure to do something about them first." She gestured to the two unconscious officers.

"Right, right." Sky walked over to one of the men and pulled him towards her. His eyes opened blearily and she stared into them. "You never saw Lucinda. All you saw was a vampire's body turning to ash in the sun. Then it blew away."

"The ashes blew away," the man repeated, enthralled. Sky dropped him, then repeated the process with the other one.

"Welp, let's get out of here. I was sick of this town anyway!" Sky announced. Lucinda followed. "Oh, and here's money for helping me out." Sky handed over a stack of bills which Lucinda accepted and began counting. "I hope we run into that stupid Pokésoul girl again," Sky grumbled. "I'll show that little girl not to threaten a vampire!"

"...Are you in a position to call someone else a little girl?"

"Shut up Lucinda!"

* * *

Pecha, Nami and Zyra were at the police station waiting to receive their payment. "What about Wyvrn?" Zyra asked quietly, glancing sidelong at the officer.

"If he's not killing anyone it's none of our business," Pecha replied.

"So we just leave him then?"

"Kai and Christina are keeping an eye on him," Nami assured.

"Hey," said Kirtus walking towards them. "This is your payment." He yawned hugely then smiled at them.

"Thanks," Pecha said. "Did you find out anything about the vampire?"

"Her body vanished," Kirtus replied with a shrug. "The officers securing the scene said it burned when the sun came up."

"Really?" Pecha said. "I've never heard about that happening before..."

"Well it's dead and that's what matters," Zyra said.

"Yes," Nami agreed.

"Let's get out of here!"

The three girls left the station and got in their van, ready to hunt out the paranormal wherever it may lurk. Though hopefully for them (and Nami especially) their paths never cross those of Sky or Lucinda again.


	7. Friendship Journal

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys! Thank you so much for responding last week, the only people I didn't hear from were the creators of Anna and Sienne, so unless the creators contact me, they are being cut. Everyone else is fine though :) It's good to know you're reading the story :) **

**Thanks again to everyone, and I hope you enjoy the new chapter!**

**One last thing, a few people have asked so I'm saying now, I WILL UPDATE ON SATURDAYS (or Sunday if I miss Saturday for some reason). I'll try to keep to this schedule, but my non-fanfic life is going to get busier in a few weeks and after that I may have to slow down a bit. I'll try to let you know when that happens though.**

* * *

Chapter 5: Friendship Journal

* * *

"Hearthome!" Pecha announced as she, Nami, and Zyra walked into a more urban area. Zyra eyed the large buildings with distaste.

Several of the buildings had screens showing different TV stations on them and Zyra gazed at one curiously. "Television?" she asked.

"Yep," Pecha said. "These are way bigger than the one Cornflower had though."

"Really? They look quite small to me," Nami said.

"I don't get it," Zyra said, staring at one. "How does it work?"

"I don't know," Nami replied. "They just do. It never really occurred to me to wonder how."

"How 'bout you, read any books or seen any documentaries on televisions?" Zyra asked Pecha. The other girl seemed to be a veritable font of (in Zyra's opinion) useless information.

"I did see something actually, but I didn't really understand it. Something about waves and signals."

"We should head to the center of town," Nami said, drawing attention away from the television. "There should be an office there where I can ask about Blake."

The trio walked along, the buildings gradually getting bigger and the density of people increasing. This continued until the narrow road abruptly gave way to a large circular clearing where a woman stood in front of a pack of Garchomp.

"Wow! Garchomp!" Zyra exclaimed, her eyes becoming large and shiny.

"Uh...," Pecha glanced at Nami who nodded. "Fine, let's go see them."

As they got closer a sign became visible which read: 'Sandy's Flight Service.'

Near the Garchomp sat a boy, a Typhlosion at his side.

His hair appeared white, but when he turned his head to look at Zyra and her friends she caught a hint of black underneath.

"Hi!" He said suddenly, his blue eyes scrunching in happiness.

"Uh, hi?" Zyra said.

"Are you guys here to catch a ride too? I wanted to fly somewhere, but they wouldn't let Typhlosion on..." The boy sighed.

"You're a Pokésoul?" Zyra asked glancing at the Typhlosion.

"Yep."

"So all four of us are," Zyra mused. "I'm Zyra, that's Nami and Pecha."

"Did you say Pecha?" the boy asked. "Like -"

"Like the berry, yeah," Zyra finished. Nevin looked at Pecha and started laughing hysterically.

"That's your name?" He spluttered. "That's hilarious!"

"I'm glad you find my name so amusing," Pecha grumbled, anger oozing out of the girl.

"Hilarious in a good way!" Nevin consoled. Pecha was not swayed and continued glowering at the younger male.

"Ah, what's your name?" Nami asked, trying to diffuse the situation.

"I'm Nevin," the boy said. He reached into the pocket of his white jacket, revealing more of his black shirt underneath, and produced a small notebook, well-worn with use. Using his legs, clad in white plaid shorts, as a desk he began writing in the journal.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Pecha asked, her anger seemingly forgotten in puzzlement. Zyra wanted to know the same thing.

_He's being strange. We should leave him_, Darkfire suggested.

_Darkfire_, Zyra chastised.

_Just a suggestion_, the Pokémon replied airily.

"This is my friendship journal," Nevin said proudly. "I'm writing down our meeting so I never forget!"

"Friendship... journal," Pecha repeated looking a bit bewildered.

"That's nice," Nami said. Zyra wasn't sure if she was just being polite or if she meant it.

"So where are you trying to go?" Zyra asked, changing the subject as she was unsure what to say about the journal.

"Anywhere," Nevin replied. "I'm traveling. I have been since I was ten. I've been in Sinnoh a while now and I want to try somewhere else."

"Since you were ten?" Pecha said. "That's really young!"

"I lived in a forest by myself for most of my life," Zyra pointed out, but was ignored.

"How old are you?" Nevin asked Pecha.

"Eighteen," she replied.

"Wow you're old," the boy said.

"What! I'm not old! Eighteen is not old!"

"I didn't mean it in a bad way," Nevin said, holding his hands up in a conciliatory way.

"How old are you then?" Zyra asked as Pecha muttered to Zap about her age. Zap stared blankly at the girl.

"Fifteen," Nevin said proudly. "I've been traveling out here for five years now. Just me and Typhlosion. And Pidgey. Just like my sister Kari did!" His face lit up as he mentioned his sister. "She and my father are both traveling too!"

"I'll go look for the police office," Pecha said at this point, smatching one of Nami's missing person posters and stalking off.

Nami picked up another one of the posters and shoeed it to Nevin. "Have you seen the man in this picture?" she asked Nevin. "It's my brother and I'm trying to find him."

Nevin studied the photo, Typhlosion peeking over his shoulder. "Sorry, I haven't seen him. What's his name? I can check my friendship journal!"

"Blake Salem."

Nevin flipped through the book in his lap then shook his head. "Sorry, I haven't met him."

"Thank you anyway," Nami said sadly.

"You know, if you're looking for him I know just who you should talk to!" Nevin said suddenly. "There's an information broker in Johto named River Mayer. Word is she's a genius. If you ask her I'm sure she'd be able to find something!"

"Really!" Nami asked excitedly. "Do you know where in Johto she lives?"

"I know the general area," he said. "We could go together!"

Nami looked questioningly at Zyra. Zyra just shrugged. "Thank you," Nami said. "We accept your offer."

As the three were still getting to know each other, Pecha returned with Zap. "Nevin's coming with us," Zyra told her.

"What," Pecha said flatly.

"Let's be friends!" Nevin said holding his hand out to her. Zyra could see Pecha not wanting to do it and could practically hear Zap telling her to grow up. They shook hands and Nevin's grin widened. "Alright! Our next step is to get passage to Johto!"

"Johto?" Pecha said.

"We're going there," Zyra said.

"How will we get there?" Nami asked. "You said they wouldn't let your Typhlosion on."

"Well they will, it just costs more than I can spend," Nevin said. "Any of you got any money?"

"I have some," Pecha said. "But probably not enough."

"I can pay for it," Nami said. She pulled out a coin purse and removed a few of the coins. They were all golden.

"Woah," Nevin said, eyes wide. "You're rich!"

"Keep it down," Pecha hissed. "We don't want to get robbed."

"Will this cover our travel fare?" Nami asked.

"Several times over I'd imagine," Pecha replied. "Give me two of those and I can arrange it. You didn't seem great at haggling."

Nami seemed to agree with this and handed the coins over. "I'll come too!" Nevin said bouncing along after Pecha. "I'm a master haggler!"

Zyra was about as bad at haggling as Nami, if not worse. One didn't haggle much in the woods.

"Are you okay going to Johto?" Nami asked.

_Bit late to ask that now_, Darkfire muttered.

"It's fine," Zyra assured her. "I left the forest because I want to see more of the world. Going to Johto will be a good chance for that."

Nami and Zyra made small talk while they waited for Pecha and Nevin.

The two returned, Nevin grinning, which Zyra had begun to assume was his default expression, and Pecha eyeing him suspiciously.

"We can get a ride for one gold," Pecha announced. "It might have gone better if he hadn't weirded her out by writing about her in his friendship journal."

"We're friends now!" Nevin said. "I had to write about her!"

"You just - never mind," Pecha sighed apparently realizing Nevin was an unstoppable force.

"One gold is fine," Nami assured. "I have plenty."

"Do we want to stay here in Hearthome for a night or get going now?" Pecha asked.

Zyra looked up at the sun and saw that the day was over half over. "We should probably wait," Zyra said. "I don't really want to fly at night."

"I don't either," Nami agreed.

"Let's go find a place to stay then," Pecha suggested.

"I've got that covered!" Nevin exclaimed. "I've been staying here for a few days so you can just stay where I am!"

"Okay," Zyra agreed. "Lead on."

Nevin skipped happily along the road, smiling at everyone who crossed his path.

* * *

Zyra again categorically refused to sleep inside the inn and found a perch on the roof. Nevin found this absolutely hilarious and laughed for a good five minutes.

_Strange kid, _Zap commented_. _

_I don't like him, _Pecha muttered.

_Because he called you old and made fun of your name? Actually...I suppose I don't blame you._

"Are you okay Pecha?" Nami asked.

"...Fine," Pecha managed.

"There's no need to be so grumpy," Nevin said. "Just smile!"

This just irritated Pecha more. And then she became annoyed at herself for being irritated because the kid was stupidly nice. She decided that the only way to escape the cycle of annoyance was to simply leave. Maybe she'd find m less of a nuisance in the morning.

"I'm going to bed," she said stalking away, Zap following less dramatically. She threw herself on the bed and threw an arm over her face, blocking out the waning light from the window.

* * *

Nami sat across from the boy named Nevin. He grinned and talked. And talked. Nami hadn't said a word since Pecha left and wasn't entirely certain if the boy would notice if she left or not.

_He probably would, _Yuki said_. Well, maybe. _

_He's very...animated, _Nami said_. And I thought Pecha and Zyra were talkative. _

_Basically everyone you meet talks more than you, _Yuki pointed out gently_. Though he does seem to be a bit of a blabber mouth. A friendly one though._

_Very friendly. I can't imagine him every lying about anything. I don't think it would occur to him. _

Typhlosion suddenly barked something at Yuki who squeaked and hid behind Nami's head.

_What did he say? _Nami asked.

_Err. He said, 'Hello', _Yuki replied. Nami sighed at her Pokémon's skittishness.

"What's your brother like?" Nevin asked.

There were a few moments of silence in which Nami registered that she'd been asked a question and then realized she was expected to answer that question. "Blake!" she exclaimed after realizing what the question was. She then coughed slightly and resumed speaking in a normal tone of voice. "Blake was really gullible and took things too seriously. But he always protected me when I needed him. Blake and I were adopted," Nami told him. "And then our adoptive parents died and we were alone again. I thought we could get through it together, but he just left one day." This was more than she'd told Zyra or Pecha and she wondered at her immediate trust in the boy. She supposed it was his face, he just looked like a person completely incapable of doing something to hurt someone. Well, on purpose anyway, he'd laughed at Pecha earlier and she certainly hadn't appreciated that.

"You don't know why he left right?" Nevin said. "There must have been a reason! Don't make any assumptions until you find him. There's no way for you to know now."

"I suppose you're right, thanks."

"Hey!" The short broke up the conversation. Nami looked towards the open window where Zyra hung upside down, her head and shoulders visible.

"Zyra?" Nami said.

"Could you give me some food? I'm hungry."

Nami grabbed the apple she hadn't eaten and a slice of bread and handed it to the hanging girl. Through some bit of acrobatics that Nami could not even comprehend, Zyra managed to hold both pieces of food and flip herself back up onto the roof. The building was three stories tall.

Nevin stared at the now empty window in open astonishment. "Wow," he said. "That's impressive!"

* * *

Zyra sat on the roof with Darkfire nibbling idly at the piece of bread. Darkfire had claimed the apple for herself and was taking delicate bites.

_So what do you think of Nevin? _Zyra asked.

_I hate people, _Darkfire replied.

Zyra laughed_. I know you don't really. Though I have to say he seems a bit naive for having been out here by himself as long as he claims. _

_He could be lying. _

Zyra considered this, then pictured Nevin's face and tried to imagine him lying. _I don't think so. Maybe he's just incredibly lucky. We're going to Johto tomorrow. I wonder what we'll see. _

_Whatever, _Darkfire grumbled_. Just don't let anyone else join out group. Four people is already three too many_.

_You're so grumpy_, Zyra said fondly, stroking the Umbreon's ears. Of course Zyra knew Darkfire was just worried about her. And she appreciated it.

* * *

Nevin woke the next morning, a grin on his face. _C'mon Typhlosion_! He exclaimed. _It's Johto time_! Nevin rolled off his bed and scooped up his bag.

_It's still early, _Typhlosion reminded_. The flight center doesn't open for several more hours. _

_Hours? _Nevin whined_. _

_Why don't you take a shower? _Typhlosion suggested_. This inn has running water, the next one we're in might not. _

Nevin sighed but sulked towards the showers anyway. Typhlosion, being a fire Pokémon, disliked water and remained in the room to await Nevin.

Nevin took a long hot shower and put on his outfit. It was, sadly, the same outfit as the day before. It was boring and a bit uncomfortable but the truth of the matter was carrying changes of clothes was too much work. For the weight of a full change of clothes, you could fit extra food or tools or other things that were more important to survival. Because of this Nevin only ever got new clothes when a piece wore out completely.

Nevin walked past his room, which Typhlosion emerged from and followed him. The two walked down the stairs to the breakfast area and were surprised to find people already down there. Zyra and Pecha were sitting across from each other at a table talking quietly and sharing a loaf of bread.

"You guys are up already?" Nevin asked sitting next to Zyra, much to the disgust of Darkfire, who shot him a dirty look and moved pointedly away from him.

"Hey," Zyra said. She sounded subdued and Nevin looked at her more closely. He noted that she seemed uncomfortable about something.

"Are you alright?" He asked her.

"The walls," Zyra replied. "I think they want to eat me!"

"They aren't going to eat you," Pecha sighed. "That's insane!"

"Why would the walls eat you?" Nevin wondered.

"They already did! I'm inside them aren't they?"

"That makes sense!" Nevin agreed.

"No, no it doesn't," Pecha refuted.

"Yeah! The doors are mouths and the rooms are the stomach!" Zyra said, ignoring Pecha completely.

"So the windows are the nose?" Nevin wondered. "And the roof is the hair!"

Pecha sat on the other side of the table, her head in her hands. Nami came down to this scene.

"Uh, what's going on?" She asked, Yuki floating next to her.

"I don't even know," Pecha muttered to her hands.

"We're being eaten!" Zyra explained.

"By the inn," Nevin added.

"...What?" Nami said in confusion.

"It doesn't make sense to non-crazy people," Pecha replied.

"Hey!" Zyra exclaimed rather suddenly. "What time does that flight place open? Can we go yet?"

"They don't open for another hour," Nami replied.

Nami took a seat beside Pecha and took a slice of bread. She was clearly more well-versed in manners than the other three as she carefully spread an even layer of butter on the slice and took delicate bites. The others had torn the bread to pieces and dipped it in the butter.

"What do you think Johto is like?" Zyra wondered.

"I've been before," Nevin replied. "It's not much different from here really. A bit smaller I suppose, but it's fairly similar. Just, while you're there make sure not to say anything bad about Lugia or Ho-Oh, the locals really don't take it well."

"Lugia and Ho-Oh?" Zyra repeated.

"Legendary Pokémon. Ho-Oh is called the guardian of the skies and Lugia is called the guardian of the seas," Pecha explained. "They're both play important parts in the mythology of Johto, so the locals don't like bad things being said about them."

"You knowing random stuff really weirds me out," Zyra said flatly.

"Well the TV in Cornflower was always set to the channel that played documentaries," Pecha said. "I ended up watching a lot of them."

"Ugh," Nevin said. "Documentaries are so boring! Why watch that when you could watch action movies, or adventure stories?"

"Some people like learning," Pecha replied, a bit irritably.

_She does not like you_, Typhlosion noted.

_Sure she does_! Nevin replied confidently. _She just doesn't know it yet!_

Aftre about an hour had passed Nami said, "The flight center should be open now."

"Woo!" Zyra exclaimed running for the door. The other three followed more sedately. "It's so relieving to be out of there! I hate buildings!"

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Pecha remarked sarcastically.

"Seriously? I did and I've known her less than a day!" Nevin said surprised.

Pecha grumbled wordlessly at her Luxray.

* * *

The fours travelers returned to the flight center. Sandy stood there and waved them over. "Ready for your flight?" She asked, holding out her hand for payment. Nami obligingly reached into her bag and retrieved the promised gold piece. Sandy walked to her small booth and brought back four set of what appeared to be earmuffs.

Nami accepted hers with confusion and held it in front of her, unsure of its purpose.

_So your ears don't get cold_? Yuki offered.

_Maybe_, Nami replied doubtfully. _Though with my connection to you cold doesn't bother me anyway. _

"These are magically connected to each other," Sandy explained. "When you wear them you will be able to talk with each other during the flight. Without 'em talking's impossible, even if ya yell. So keep 'em on unless ya don't want anyone to hear ya. This is a non-stop flight to Olivine. The Garchomp will _not_ stop anywhere else so don't even try to make 'em. You can, of course, leave the flight early, but not dying while doing so is your responsibility. With that out of the way, enjoy your flight!" Sandy smiled at them all, but Nami suddenly felt a lot more nervous.

Nevin confidently walked up to a Garchomp and hopped on its back, Typhlosion jumping up behind him. Zyra seemed to be communing with her Garchomp as the Pokémon was practically groveling before her in its attempts to please her. Pecha was sitting unsteadily on one of them while Zap was being held in the dragon-type's claws. The normally stoic Luxray appeared very unhappy.

_Well, here goes nothing_, Nami thought as she scrambled her way up the Garchomp's side. She latched onto its neck in an attempt to keep herself from simply sliding off the other side. Its scales were smooth and slippery and there wasn't a whole lot to grip onto. _I hope I don't fall_.

_Here_, Yuki said. The Frosslass created small ice stirrups on the Garchomp giving Nami a place to put her feet.

_Thanks_.

"Go on!" Sandy shouted and the Garchomp suddenly rose, taking off into the sky in unison.

"Woah," Pecha said. Nami heard her loud and clear through the earmuffs. Despite having spent the past few years in the Outerlands, Nami was not familiar with magic. It was forbidden in the cities and Nami had never thought to question why. But here she was now, sitting on a Garchomp with magic earmuffs on. In the end though, it didn't matter. If magic could help her find Blake then she would use it, forbidden or not.

"This is awesome!" Nevin yelled through the magic link. Nami flinched a bit at the volume.

"This is terrible," Zyra contradicted. Nami glanced at the other girl and saw her clinging for dear life to her Garchomp. "I miss the ground!"

"You sleep in trees," Pecha said. "But you're afraid of heights?"

"Trees are attached to the ground!"

Nami watched the green ground rushing away beneath her. It was far less elegant then the teleport stations in the city, but there was something to be said for being able to see the things you were crossing over. She'd been in the Outerlands for a few years now, but she'd never used the flight service. Her journey had started in Unova and she'd walked all the way to Sinnoh. Now they were going to get all the way to Johto in a matter of hours.

Nami gradually relaxed and enjoyed the sensation of the wind blowing through her hair and watching the scenery. _Pretty_, she said.

_It is_, Yuki agreed.

As the world went by beneath them, a hulking grey mass appeared on the horizon.

"Is that..?" Pecha's voice trailed off.

"A city," Nami said. "That must be Jubilife."

"Disgusting," Zyra said, her voice still a bit shaky from fear.

"I wonder what it's like in there," Nevin mused.

Nami watched as they passed over the upper level. She could just make out the buildings and the cars and was hit by a wave of nostalgia. Her one deepest wish was to see Blake again and for them to be able to go back home together.

"You used to live in there?" Zyra asked.

"Not this city, but one like it yes," Nami replied.

They passed the remaining flight in relative silence, interrupted only by Nevin's occasional comment or an unhappy sound from Zyra.

* * *

_Johto_

_Azalea_

Sky and Lucinda walked down the street, the shorter girl happily swinging a festive bag in her left hand. Lucinda didn't know what was in there, but she was certain River wasn't going to like it. Sky was the sort of person that you never wanted to get a present from.

The streets were fairly empty, which was common for Azalea. The town was one of the smaller ones in Johto and most of the people who lived there were farmers. However, there was one aspect of the town that was quite out of keeping with the rest of it. A huge mansion, beautifully cared for, sat at the edge of town. It was a glistening palace of white amongst the dreary brown colored buildings. Sky and Lucinda walked straight towards it.

Sky bumped into a boy before they arrived at the gate. "Watch it!" sneered the boy. The boy was slim and shorter than Lucinda, though much taller than Sky. He carried a CD player which appeared to be powered on, though no music was playing.

"You watch it," Sky spat back. Locke loomed behind her threateningly.

"You ran into me," the boy said. Lucinda couldn't make out any details of the boy as he was wearing a long black coat with the hood up. It shrouded him in black and left most of his face a mystery, though Lucinda thought she caught a glimpse of red and white. Sky tried to move past him and he held up a hand, covered in a grey, fingerless glove, to stop her.

Sky, upon seeing the hand, grew agitated and her hand flashed out, knocking the hood off the boy's head revealing white hair, tinged red at the ends. The boy shielded his blue eyes briefly, then resumed glaring.

"We're just going to see River," Lucinda told him, hoping throwing out the girl's name would phase him. It didn't.

"I don't care," the boy said.

"Who are you?!" Sky yelled.

"Volke. Not that it's any of your business."

Sky's hand hovered over one of her many hidden daggers and she took a step towards him, but before she could act, the CD player sparked and a Rotom came out, startling Sky into taking a step backwards.

"Rotom," Lucinda said surprised.

"That's Volt and he will attack if you get too close," Volke threatened.

"Yeah, well I'm Sky and I'll stab you if you stay in in my way!" Sky now held the dagger in her hand and pointed it threateningly at the Rotom and the boy. Locke clicked its scythes together and glared menacingly.

"Hey!" yelled a female voice Lucinda recognized as River's. The girl herself soon appeared, long black hair blowing in the wind. "What's going on? Volke what are you doing to my customers?"

"You know him?" Sky asked.

"Unfortunately."

"I was walking by and they made me angry," Volke explained.

"We didn't do anything," Lucinda said.

"The little one hit me," Volke refuted.

"I am not little!" Sky yelled. Lucinda grabbed her arm before she could throw a dagger at Volke.

"Leave them along Volke," River ordered. Volke glared at the girl, but didn't stop Sky or Lucinda as they walked past him this time.

"Nice guy," Sky muttered.

"I know," River agreed. "He moved into a town a few weeks ago and he's been terrorizing everyone. I don't even know why he moved here!"

"There's something you don't know," Sky said in awe. "But I thought you knew _everything_!" She said this with exaggerated sincerity.

"I may have been exaggerating slightly," River admitted. River opened the large doors to the mansion and let the other two girls in. Then she turned to them. "So what brings you two here? You never come to visit, so I assume you need something."

"We do!" Sky announced, pulling out a small slip of paper. She handed it to River who read it.

"Starlight Suta," she said. "What is that? No wait! Don't tell me, that'll ruin the fun!"

"It's a person," Lucinda said anyway. "We need to find her." River pouted slightly, but nodded.

"Also if you could find out if we're supposed to kill her or not that would be helpful," Sky added.

"You don't even know what you're supposed to do to her?" River said incredulously.

"Well, it's a funny story," Sky replied. "They told us to take care of her, but they talk so monotonously I couldn't tell if them meant, take _care_ of her, or if they actually want her to be cared for."

"So you either have to save her life or take it away," River said. "Well doing both won't be easy then."

"We need you to find her," Lucinda said.

"You know I work for money," River said.

"I know," Lucinda grumbled.

"Making you spend money is always enjoyable," River laughed, slightly evilly.

"How much?" Lucinda asked through gritted teeth.

"Hmm, well it depends on how hard it is to find her really. I'll take five gold now, and if things get really complicated I'll take some more later."

Lucinda took out two of her golden coins, and through great willpower, managed to give them to River.

"So I have to pay the larger portion?" Sky demanded.

"I'm paying two. That's it," Lucinda said.

"If there's an extra fee you're paying the bigger part," Sky replied as she fished out three gold coins and placed them in River's waiting hand.

"Thank you for your patronage!" River said. "Now get out, I need quiet to work properly."

"Wait, I have a present for you," Sky said. She dropped the bag at River's feet, then sprinted out the door. Lucinda imagined it would be a good idea to follow suit and slipped away before River could open the bag. She wasn't sure what it was, but she imagined River would be in a bad mood after opening it.

* * *

River watched the two leave with suspicion and stared at the bag._ I have to open it_, she decided finally.

_You wouldn't be able to stand not knowing what it was_, her Mismagius, Mist, agreed. The ghost Pokémon appeared suddenly as it had a habit of hiding itself from other people. Because of their bond River always knew where she was, but other people found it extremely startling when she appeared out of thin air. Something the Ghost Pokémon found extremely entertaining.

River crouched down next to the bag and examined it. As far as she could tell there was nothing bad on the outside and she didn't see any traps that would trigger as she opened it, which was not always a given when it came to presents from Sky. Finally she opened it and her face immediately turned dark. The contents of the bag was lemons, sour candies and lemon pastries.

_I hate sour things_, River grumbled closing the bag.

_It was from Sky_._ There was no way it was going to be something good, _Mist pointed out_. At least this one didn't explode_.

River knew this of course and hadn't expected it to be something good, still it would have been a pleasant surprise if it were. She left the bag of sour things in the hallway and walked upstairs to begin her research. She had a girl to find.

* * *

Sky and Locke walked around the small town, peeking into storefronts and doing some people watching. The town was quite small and there really wasn't much to see. They soon grew bored and went looking for Lucinda. At the very least she'd be fun to annoy.

When Sky finally found the older girl she was talking with her Staraptor and tying a bag to its leg. The bag was lumpy and made faint clinking sounds when it shifted.

_Is that money?_ Sky wondered. _Why would she be sending away her precious money?_

_Maybe she's storing it somewhere?_ Locke suggested.

_Maybe, _Sky replied, but she wasn't convinced. _I want to know where it's going. Why don't you follow it? _

_With pleasure, _Locke replied as the Pokémon buzzed into the air and slipped off after the Staraptor. It was a peculiar feeling, being parted with what was essentially the other half of your soul, but Sky and Locke had been in many positions where parting was necessary and had gotten used to it. It was never comfortable, but it was more of a mild annoyance now than anything. Just a feeling of something, missing. But one nice thing, being bonded as they were, was that it didn't matter how far away the other got, they could still communicate just as easily as if they were standing right next to each other. Other skills became harder to use with distance, but communication wasn't one of them. This proved to be extremely valuable to Sky and Locke in some of their schemes.

Sky slipped away from her hiding place and walked around a building before approaching Lucinda so she could better act as if she'd just arrived. "Hey Red," Sky greeted.

"Still not my name," Lucinda grumbled. That was when Sky noted the drawing on the ground.

"What is that?" Sky asked peering at the strange picture. It was a strange combination of symbols Sky wasn't familiar with. She assumed it to be some sort of magic, but Sky had always found magic to be like cheating and hadn't bothered to learn any.

"It's a spell," Lucinda replied as she rubbed the drawing away with a booted foot.

"A spell that does what?" Sky asked.

"It does what it does."

"Which is?"

"I don't feel like telling you."

"You know when you don't tell me things it just makes me want to know more."

Silence. Time to pull out the secret weapon. "I'll give you three silvers if you tell me."

"…Five."

"Fine." Sky realized of course, that Lucinda probably didn't tell her some things just because she knew Sky would pay for it if she waited long enough. That girl's obsession with money was truly a force to be reckoned with. Silver passed hands and Lucinda finally became more forthcoming.

"It's a translation spell. It lets me understand what a Pokémon is saying for a short period of time."

"Really?" Sky said. "I've never heard of that before."

"It's a rare spell and the ingredients are hard to come by."

"Why did you need to speak with your Staraptor?"

"I don't want to tell you and don't bother offering money, I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine!" Sky replied. She'd find out soon enough anyway. Locke was on the case.

* * *

"Got it!" River exclaimed. She closed her laptop and rushed down the stairs. The bag still sat on the floor. _Might as well get rid of this while we're out, _River mused.

_Might as well, _Mist agreed. River picked up the bag distastefully and walked out the front door. She walked down the street, searching for Sky and Lucinda when her foot caught on something and she fell suddenly. Spitting out dirt, she turned to see what had gotten in her way. It was a CD player.

_Volke! _She cursed. As if summoned by her inner cry, the boy appeared, followed by his Rotom.

River picked up the nearest thing to her, which happened to be Sky's 'present,' and hurled it at the boy. The instant the bag left her hand she realized she'd made a huge mistake. She tried to will the bag back into her hands, but it was no use, it was flying towards the boy and there was no way to stop it now.

The bag hit Volke in the stomach and he caught it before it fell to the ground again. "What?" he said angrily, then he looked inside. His face turned upwards and River tensed, but the boy wasn't angry. He was…_beaming_ at her.

_Am I dead? _River asked Mist.

_If you are, I am too, _Mist replied.

_...You're a Ghost type_.

"Thank you!" Volke exclaimed. "I _love _lemons!"

"Uh, you're welcome?" River replied.

"You're amazing!" Volke said. "I'm sorry I was mean earlier!"

"Uh, yeah, no problem," River said, still not entirely sure what was happening.

_I think he likes sour things, _Mist said, not at all helpfully.

_I like sweet things, my personality doesn't change when someone gives me a lollipop, _River replied. "I have to go find Sky and Lucinda," River said aloud, edging around the boy.

"I'll go with you!" Volke said trailing after her. River couldn't think of particular reason for the boy not to, so she just shrugged and let him tag along after her.

Sky and Lucinda sat in the only restaurant in town, though it wasn't really a restaurant at all, but more of a pub. It was a dirty place, always making River want to take a shower immediately after setting foot inside. However, it was the best place in town for waiting, everywhere else was either dirtier or just full of so many sad people even Sky seemed to find it disheartening.

It was here that River finally found them. "Hey guys," she said as she sat at the table. Volke sat next to her.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Sky demanded.

"What business is it of yours?" Volke snapped.

"Please," River cut in before Sky could say anything else. "Try to get along."

"Do you have the intel?" Lucinda asked.

"Of course!" River replied, sounding almost offended. "I found your girl." River placed a photo on the table. The girl in the picture was smiling at the camera, her lavender eyes crinkled in happiness. She wore a purple shirt, cut off at the bottom of the photo and around her neck was a black ribbon upon which hung a Keystone. "Starlight Suta. A priestess in Hoenn."

"Priestess?" Sky asked. "So she's religious? Ick."

"No," River said. "She's from Hoenn," she continued, disgust in her tone. "They're not as advanced as other places. The girl's just a Pokésoul with a psychic partner but they seem to think she has Arceus given powers or something." River snorted. "Yokels."

"They could come from Arceus," Lucinda said. "No one knows how they occur."

"Well they don't come from Arceus. It's ridiculous."

"The Gardevoir is her partner then?" Lucinda asked, dropping the toptic and nodding at the psychic Pokémon in the picture.

"Yep," River replied. "She lives in Petalburg."

"Alright!" Sky said excitedly. "Let's go Red!"

"Lucinda," Lucinda corrected half-heartedly. "Wait, where's Locke?"

"Locke'll meet us there, come on!"

The two assassins (or bodyguards, River wasn't sure which) slipped out into the night.

* * *

_Zyra's Lessons in Civilization:_

_Magic_

"So those ear things, how did that work?" Zyra asked curiously.

"That was magic," Nevin explained.

"Magic?"

"Yup. Some sort of communication spell."

"Magic's banned in the cities isn't it?" Pecha asked, glancing sidelong at Nami.

"It is," Nami agreed.

"So how does it work?" Zyra asked. "Do you just think things and they happen?"

"No," Nevin replied. "It's sort of like a language. Every spell is like a sentence, you need the correct verb, subject and adjectives or else the sentence doesn't make sense or means something different than you meant."

"Can you describe that too me non-grammatically?" Zyra requested.

"Well, each spell has a diagram," Nevin explained. "Like this." He knelt down and carved a small drawing in the dirt. It looked a bit like a skewed sun. "This is the symbol for light. But just having the symbol isn't enough." He held his hands above the symbol and said, "Light!" then a small sphere of pure light appeared in his hands.

"Wow," Pecha said.

"That's beautiful," Nami added.

"So say the words and draw the picture?" Zyra asked. "That seems easy."

"It's an easy spell," Nevin said. "Every spell requires ingredients. This one needs a bit of energy and that's it. But some of the other ones need precious metals and rare flowers and things."

"Sounds complicated," Nami mused.

"The simple stuff isn't," Nevin replied. "You don't even really need to draw the picture. You can just picture it in your mind, but if you imagine it wrong then your spell might do some weird stuff so it's always safer to draw it out."

* * *

**End Note:**

**For those interested, Kirtus won the popularity contest! Zyra and Wolf tied for second. **


	8. Nature Will Prevail

**Author's Note:**

**Time for a break in our regularly scheduled programming. Next week will be back to Lumiose! All the time lapses are comparative to the present time. **

**I'm not really happy with this chapter, and I had less time to edit than I was expecting because I suddenly had to go out of town for two days (I got told the day before, not cool). But it's Saturday, so here it is, hopefully it's okay.**

* * *

Chapter 6: Nature Will Prevail

* * *

_Three Months Ago_

In a small town in Unova lived a girl. She was a Pokésoul, but that never mattered to anyone in town, she was one of them just like anybody else. Her parents ran the inn and the girl had lived there all her life. She was a strong girl who believed in fighting for what she believed in. While normally an admirable trait, it was this very thing that got the girl into trouble.

The girl walked down the street on this fateful day, her brown hair bouncing against her shoulders and covering most of the pair of violet headphones that hung around her neck. She wore a black shirt, pants and boots that clearly favored functionality over fashion. Behind her walked a Samurott, her bonded partner. The girl's name was Liliana Icarus and her partner's name was Percy.

In Liliana's town, nothing of particular interest ever really happened. Sure, there were the occasional problems with raiders, but every town had that. And ever since the mages added the town to their area of influence, the number of raider strikes had gone down to almost zero. Liliana enjoyed life in her village, though she felt herself wanting more and more to see the outside world. She was a fighter and it was a well established fact in her village that she and Percy were more than a match for anyone else in the village. Liliana longed to see more than her small town, to use her fighting skills for things that mattered. And on that day, three months ago, she finally believed that she had found her chance.

On that fateful day, when Liliana awoke and headed to the market as per usual, instead of seeing people flocking around vegetable carts, the market was deserted. Everyone was instead bunched around the podium in the main square that the mayor used for his speeches. However the kind older man was not the one standing upon the podium that day.

There were three people on the podium, two women and one man. One woman looked to be in about her 40's while the other looked closer to Liliana's age. The man was somewhere in between. In front of the podium stood the older woman, who was addressing the crowd.

"Why should you live in poverty while the cities thrive?" she asked the crowd. "They use their technology to drain your resources! They send the raiders to steal your food! They outlaw magic! They want you to suffer!"

Liliana had never heard any of this before, other than the usual life is better in the cities, but it made a certain kind of sense. Why _were_ the cities so against magic? Liliana loved using magic, and it had never done anything but good for Liliana's life.

"We should stop letting the cities walk all over us! It's time for us to take a stand. And we need your help to do it!" the woman yelled. "Come with us! Join Nature's Guardians and protect your families from the scum in the cities. Together we will make the Outerlands a safe place to live. Safe for your friends and safe for your families!"

The woman's words were clearly having an impact on the crowd, the atmosphere becoming electric. It almost made the hair on Liliana's skin stand on end.

"I can't go with you," One of the villagers said regretfully. It was the old lady who ran the cabbage stand, Bess. "I can't, I have to work."

This sentiment was echoed by many in the crowd. This seemed to remind people that they had jobs and the people gradually dispersed to return to their normal schedules. Not Liliana though. Those people were right! The cities were terrible and something should be done to make them respect the towns in the Outerlands. The younger woman noticed Liliana's presence and walked over to her. "Hello," she said. "I'm Sara."

"Liliana," Liliana replied briskly.

You agree with us, don't you Liliana? A Pokésoul like you could really make a difference. Please think about it. We're leaving town tomorrow and would love for you to come with us."

The girl returned to her group and Liliana shared a look with Percy.

_Should we do it?_, Liliana asked.

_We could just try it out_, Percy suggested. _Just for a little bit, to see if it's something we want to do. _

_They do make some good points don't they_, Liliana mused.

_They do. _

_I'll talk to my parents about it tonight_, Liliana decided.

With her decision put off until later, Liliana continued about her day. She didn't have a job, but her parents counted on her to scout out the marketplace and get food for as cheap as possible. Her parents ran the small tavern in town and their income was fairly low so getting good deals was extremely important.

Once Liliana had finished the shopping she returned to the small wooden building with the cheerfully painted sign which said 'Icarus Tavern' in bright blue letters. She pushed the door open and walked through the dining area to a door in the back wall which led to her families' living section of the building. "I'm home!" She announced.

Her mother appeared from behind another door and welcomed her home. "Did you get everything?" Her mother asked.

"Yep," Liliana replied. "I got some good deals too." Percy was too large to fit through the front door (plus he found navigating the tables spread throughout the dining area tedious) so there was a larger door built into the back of the tavern that allowed him to enter easily. It really was a lot easier when he was just an Oshawott. He entered and flopped on the floor like a very large and blue rug.

"Hello Percy," Liliana's mother said.

"Samu," Percy replied. Though Liliana heard this aloud, a mental echo followed the statement which let her know what the Samurott really meant, hello. The mental words were somehow overlaid with the actual sound, but it was never confusing. Just another aspect of being a Pokésoul, Liliana supposed.

"Did you see the Nature's Guardians?" Liliana asked her mother, deciding not to bother putting off talking about it. Liliana always liked to face things head on.

"I did," she replied.

"I want to go," Liliana said. "Their cause sounds like a good one. Percy and I want to go."

Her mother looked at her sadly and nodded. "I'll miss you," she said. "But it is your choice. You're old enough to make your own decisions. If you want to go with them, then you should."

"Thank you," Liliana said, feeling. Rush of affection for her mother. She suddenly hugged her, then let go. "I better start packing."

* * *

The next morning Liliana went to find the Nature's Guardians. "Hey!" Sara greeted. "You came!"

"Yes," Liliana replied. "I'm going with you."

"That's great," the man said. "We're happy to have you!"

The three people were standing beside assorted flying Pokémon. "Pick a ride," Sara suggested.

Liliana nodded and mounted a Farfetch'd. The man rode upon a Dragonite, which picked Percy up and held him to its chest.

_I don't like this, _Percy complained_. _

_I'm sure it's just a short flight_, Liliana said comfortingly.

The others mounted Pokémon as well and flew off. The Pokémon flew up high, above the clouds. Once they were past the cloud layer Liliana saw the base. It was floating. A huge piece of flat rock floated in the sky, upon it buildings were visible. The Garchomp flew straight towards it, landing in a clearing. Liliana was frightened to get off, but she managed it not wanting to show any weakness.

"Welcome to the base," Sara said.

"It's floating," Liliana said.

"We got the tech from one of the cities. Pretty neat huh?"

"What if we fall?"

"We won't. This stuff is reliable."

"This way," the man said, gesturing at Liliana. "We need to get you processed."

The man led Liliana into one of the buildings that turned out to be some sort of office. She wrote her name and filled out some other information on a form which they then took from her. The man then led her out of the building and aways away to a different one. This one was several stories tall and much bigger than the office building. As Liliana studied the buildings she noted that every building was a different color, the one she was in front of now was orange.

"This is one of the living areas," the man explained. There were doors lining the outside of the building to allow direct access. The man stopped before one that said 105. "This is your room. And take this." He handed her a device that she recognized as being a phone. She'd never seen one in real life and examined it interestedly. "You're orders will be given on there." He nodded to her and walked away.

Percy and Liliana exchanged looks, then she pushed open the door. The room was spartan, two beds and a few dressers being the only furniture. A girl about Liliana's age sat on one of the beds, soft brown hair floating down to her shoulders. She turned whine the door opened and smiled at Liliana, her green eyes warm. "Hi," she said.

"Hi," Liliana replied.

"I'm Terra! You must be my roommate!"

"Seems that way."

"Are you a recent recruit too? Terra asked.

"Yes."

Terra seemed undeterred by Liliana's demeanor and her attitude remained upbeat. "I still haven't been on a mission yet. Maybe we'll get to go on our first one together!"

"Whatever."

Lilliana sat on the bed opposite Terra's and watched with some amusement as Percy squeezed himself through the door. He fell out the other side and lay on the floor, a plie or awkward limbs.

Percy managed to squeeze in through the door and settled himself on the floor.

* * *

_Two months ago_

To start with it had been great. Liliana felt like she was doing something good with her life. Liliana went with the Nature's Guardians to different towns and helped them fight off raiders. They also protected the forest and just generally helped people and Pokémon. However, Liliana had been getting a strange feeling lately. Everything she had done she agreed with, but there was something else going on, something she wasn't allowed to know. One of the rules the Nature's Guardians had was that no one was allowed to enter the red building. They claimed that there were sick Pokémon in here, but if that were the case why was no one allowed to go inside? Liliana herself actually knew some healing spells and she'd been called on to use them before. So why not now?

In the end Liliana ignored the uneasy feelings she had in favor of the good they were doing. She figured that everyone had their secrets, that didn't necessarily mean they were bad ones. But one day, Liliana's unease was proven correct.

"I want to leave," Terra confided in the previous day. The girl stared at the ground sadly, her voice quiet. "I didn't tell anyone in my town before I left and I, I need to see them again. I'm going to ask the leader to let me go."

Liliana nodded in understanding. "Do what you have to."

Terra smiled at her, "I'll miss you too!"

"That's not what I said," Liliana muttered as she was hugged by the brown-haired girl.

The next day Terra left early to speak with the leader. When Liliana returned from breakfast, Terra was there packing her things.

"Are you going home now?" Liliana asked.

"Home? I am home," Terra replied. "I love it here." The words were flat and cold, the opposite of the Terra Liliana knew. When Terra turned her green eyes to Liliana, none of the warmth that had been there remained. They were - empty.

_What's wrong with her?_ Percy wondered.

_I have no idea_, Liliana replied, horrified.

"I've been assigned to a new division," Terra said. "Isn't it exciting?" Terra certainly didn't sound excited. Her words seemed normal enough, but it was if a robot were reading a script. None of the feelings that should be present were.

"Yes," Liliana replied uncertainly. "That's great."

Terra smiled at Liliana and chills went up her spine. It was more of a baring of teeth than anything as natural as a smile.

_What did they do to her_? Liliana wondered.

_I think it's best you don't find out firsthand_, Percy replied.

_How do we get out? What do we do?_

_I don't know. Just play along. If you step out of line they'll...do to you whatever they did to Terra. _

_So just play along? Is that all we can do?_

Percy didn't respond, but she didn't need him too. She already knew the answer.

* * *

In the days that followed (so many Liliana lost count) she focused on not drawing attention. She didn't want to end up like Terra. Wake up, smile, pretend everything's normal, get through the day. It was barely existing, but it was better than becoming a mindless Liliana shaped doll.

On one particular day, she wasn't paying attentionand bumped into someone. "Sorry," she apologized.

"It's fine," the boy said. He looked nervous and trapped, much like the way Liliana felt. She recognized him by the Houndoom walking beside him as having been here longer than herself, but she couldn't remember his name. He nervously pushed his hair back as he took a seat at a table in the cafeteria. Liliana observed him as she took her own seat next to Terra

"Who is that?" Liliana asked Terra. The girl was emotionless, but she was still the closest thing Liliana had to a friend in the place.

"Blake Salem," the now emotionless girl replied.

"Blake Salem," Liliana repeated, wondering if it was important. She decided it wasn't.

* * *

_Present_

Today was a day like any other, except for one thing. Liliana was getting a new roommate, her first since Terra. Possibly they had been isolating her to see if she had influenced Terra. Since they had assigned her a new one, Liliana was hoping that meant they decided she was loyal.

When Liliana came back to her room there was a woman with pale blonde hair pulled back into a long pony tail. Liliana idly wondered how difficult it was to take care of, but pushed the thought away in favor of more important ones. The woman had pale skin which gleaned against her green camo tank top. She wore jean shorts and brown combat boots that were not entirely dissimilar to Liliana's own boots.

The woman's presence was rather overshadowed by the Dragonite in the room. The Dragonite noticed Liliana before the woman did and hummed happily at her.

"Hi" Liliana said staring at the Dragonite. Percy walked past her and barked at the Dragonite. The two began conversing, but only getting half the conversation was confusing so Liliana ignored them.

The woman turned and smiled at Liliana. "Hi," she said. Her yellow eyes were full of life, completely unlike Terra's and Liliana let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Who are you?" Liliana asked suspiciously.

"I'm you're new roommate I guess," the woman replied. "Scarlet."

"What's scarlet?"

"It's my name!" The woman explained.

"Oh. Liliana. Liliana Icarus," Liliana returned. "That's Percy."

"Clarissa," Scarlet said, gesturing at the Dragonite.

"You're a Pokésoul?" Liliana asked.

"Yep."

Scarlet smiled at Liliana, but Liliana sensed something behind the gaze. Spending so much time in this place had given her a better sense of when people were hiding things. And this woman, she was definitely hiding something.

_I like Clarissa_, Percy said happily.

_I don't trust Scarlet_, Liliana returned.

_I didn't say I trusted her, I said I liked her, _Percy clarified.

"So why didn't you have a roommate already?" Scarlet asked. "Does everyone have their own room?"

"I don't know," Liliana replied. Scarlet's eyes narrowed.

"You don't know if anyone else has a roommate?"

"I don't care."

"You've never asked or even just noticed?"

"Why bother?"

Scarlet was clearly getting irritated at this point, but Liliana wasn't giving up anything she didn't need to to someone she didn't know. Scarlet opened her mouth, but Clarissa let out a soothing hum and Scarlet visibly reigned in her temper though her eyes became no less irritated.

"So am I your first roommate?" Scarlet finally asked. "Or do you not know?"

"I had a roommate but she left."

"Why?"

"Why do you care?" Liliana finally asked.

"I just want to know!"

"I don't want to talk about it!"

Scarlet and Liliana were at this point in each other's faces and yelling at each other. Liliana suddenly felt herself being lifted off the ground and after a few moments of pure panic realized Clarissa had picked her up. Scarlet had been similarly grabbed.

Clarissa grumbled at the two of them in Dragonite words Liliana couldn't comprehend. Percy, however, understood and translated for her.

_She says you two should stop arguing_, Percy explained.

_Well, I could have guessed that on my own_, Liliana retorted. She felt Percy roll his eyes mentally at her.

"Will you put me down now?" Liliana demanded of the Dragonite, crossing her arms over her chest despite her precarious position.

Clarissa looked at her and stared into her eyes, then finally set her down. Liliana brushed herself off, pretending not to be affected by her brief stint in the air.

_Are you okay_? Percy asked.

_Fine. _Liliana replied_. I'd rather not repeat that experience though. _

_I won't let her grab you again. _

Scarlet and Clarissa were clearly speaking to each other, staring at each other intently. Liliana wondered if that was what she and Percy looked like when they spoke.

"I'm sorry," Scarlet said, though it was grudging.

"I'm not," Liliana retorted.

_Liliana_, Percy warned.

_Fine_. "I'm sorry too," Liliana finally said.

The two girls glared at each other for a while longer. Clarissa glared at the two of them, but after several moments of silence the Dragonite relaxed.

"So why did your roommate leave?"

"Shut up!"

"Rooar!" Clarissa cut the two off.

"We have to live together," Scarlet said. "We should try to get along."

"Fine," Liliana replied. The two glared at each other some more. Clarissa sighed and wondered if locking the two girls in a room together for a day would get them to get along.

"Hello Liliana," someone said from the door, breaking up the staring contest.

"Hello Terra," Liliana said. "How are you?"

"I'm great!" This was joined by what would have been the most artificial smile Liliana had ever seen had she not joined Nature's Guardians. Now they were fairly commonplace and real smiles were starting to look bizarre.

"That's good." Liliana had found that if you tried to ignore the mindless people they just stayed there. If you responded and suffered through the incredibly uncomfortable conversation they would go away faster.

"You got a new roommate," Terra said. "That's nice! I'm Terra!" Terra held her hand out to Scarlet.

"...Hi," Scarlet said shaking hands with the girl, she was clearly disturbed, which was a point in her favor as far as Liliana was concerned.

"I should return my work. Hail nature!" Terra turned and walked, even her movements robotic.

"What is wrong with her?" Scarlet asked.

"I don't know," Liliana replied. "She went to see the leader because she wanted to go home and she came back like that."

"You think he did something to her?"

"He must have. There are others like her too! There're normal one day and then they're just...well like her."

"I guess our leader doesn't want anyone leaving."

"They sure didn't mention I wouldn't be allowed to leave when I signed up," Liliana complained.

"It wasn't like this before," Scarlet mused.

"What's that mean? You were a member before? And you left? Why would you come back here?"

"My parents were a part of it. But back then they didn't have a base. And they definitely weren't able to do, whatever it is they did to Terra."

The girls were now sitting on their respective beds no trace of the earlier dislike present. Clarissa sighed with relief and sat down next to Percy who watched the proceedings silently.

"So why did you join?" Scarlet asked.

"They said that they wanted to protect people in the Outerlands," Liliana replied. "Why are you here? Your parents?"

"Something like that," Scarlet said vaguely.

Scarlet stared into Liliana's eyes and seemed to come to a decision. She reached into the bag sitting on her bed and pulled out a small white stick of chalk.

"What are you doing?" Liliana wondered. "Is that a spell?"

Scarlet didn't reply and began drawing on the wall with the chalk. There was soon a complicated looking design and Scarlet stood before it and said, "Silence."

Liliana felt a wave of power wash over her. "What did that do?"

"It was a silencing spell," Scarlet replied. "No one can hear us now. So I'm going to tell you why I'm here. I want to bring this place down. And you're going to help me do it."

"Why should I?" Liliana growled more out of being ordered than out of actual dislike of the plan. Any chance she had of getting out of her she'd take.

"If you don't help, or worse, if you try to tell anyone about why I'm here, I'll get you wiped like that Terra girl. They trust me more than you, my parents were well liked."

"So you're threatening me."

"It's nothing personal, but I can't risk being nice right now."

"How, exactly, are we going to bring this place down by ourselves?" Liliana asked, her lack of complaint implicit consent.

"We're not alone," Scarlet corrected. "All we need to do is to get information. We need a way of tracking this place and we need evidence that they plan to hurt people. Once we get those two things we can tell the Guardian Force."

"The Guardian Force?" Liliana scoffed. "Why would they help us? They'd never believe two Outerlanders."

"My husband is an officer with them and he will listen to us. All we need is the information."

"You married a Guardian Force officer? Why? They're terrible."

"That's like saying every merchant is a liar or every innkeeper is a wonderful cook," Scarlet snapped. "Not every Guardian is good, but they're not all bad either. Preston is a good person."

Liliana remained unconvinced and was certain her expression indicated such. "Whatever," she said. "But if we get all the information and they end up not helping, I'm going to blame you."

"They'll help!"

Liliana hummed noncommittally. "You never said why you want to bring this place down so badly."

"My parents died because of Nature's Guardians. Taking this place down will finally bring them the justice they deserve. So are you with me?" Scarlet held out a hand to Liliana.

Liliana took it. "Not like I have a choice," she muttered as they shook hands.

"Great!" Scarlet exclaimed, suddenly all smiles. The white chalk drawing swiftly disappeared as the girl wiped at it and she smiled at Liliana. "Where's the food in this place?"

Confused at her sudden personality change Liliana meekly lead the way to food hall.

* * *

_Hoenn_

_Petalburg_

A girl walked through town, a Gardevoir at her side, smiling idly at everyone who passed. The wind ruffled her grey skirt around her legs as her booted feet traveled along the path. She paused a moment to bask in her namesake, the stars were very bright that night.

_Nice night, isn't it_? She asked the Gardevoir.

_That is is_, the Gardevoir agreed.

Starlight and Gardevoir continued down the path, completely at peace with the world, unaware of the danger coming towards her.

* * *

_Oreburgh_

"It's your fault, boy!" Yelled an old man. He was overweight and his hair was uncared for, greasy clumps of it hanging down his face. He yelled at a boy, his child based on facial similarities. Other than their shared facial features, the two couldn't have looked more different. The boy was fairly skinny and his hair lacked the greasy quality of his father's. The boy's hair was purple, falling artfully to his shoulders.

"I'm seventeen," the purple-haired male replied in a cold voice glancing briefly at his father through his one visible, dark colored eye.

"It's your fault _boy_!" The younger man didn't bother to correct him this time.

_Should I hit him_? suggested a shiny Zoroark who sat at the boy's side.

_Don't bother. It will just make him angrier_, Eclipse replied. Zoroark grumbled a bit, but didn't pick a fight with the older man.

"You're mother is dead because of you!" The old man yelled again. Eclipse wasn't sure where his father had come upon this theory. His mother had been killed by assassin's, everyone knew that. They had never found out who had exactly had hired them, but she had worked with the police often enough that there were any number of people who would have been angry enough with her to pay for it.

"It's because she was a Pokésoul!" Eclipse's father yelled again. This was probably true actually, unlike most of the things his father said. Eclipse's mother was a Pokésoul, like Eclipse himself, but her partner was a psychic type Pokémon, a Musharna. Being a Pokésoul bonded to a psychic Pokémon made her a priestess, and very valuable to the police. There were any number of people who would be glad she was dead. It had been a few months now and Eclipse sorely missed her. Not just because his father was a waste of space, but also because of his..._problem_. His fingers brushed over the cloth covering his eye, assuring himself that the patch was secure. If it were to fall off the results would be...well _bad_ was an understatement.

His father continued to rant about anything and everything. It was Eclipse's job to listen. So he listened as the man ranted about how he hated the government, hated the town he lived in, hated the bartenders whom refused to serve him, hated the lack of money, the economy, the awful living conditions they had to live in. Hated this and that and that and this, and most of all, how he hated his son more than all the listed things above.

Eclipse listened absentmindedly as the ranting went to incoherent mumblings, to the squeaky springs of the couch as his father, the drunken excuse of a human being collapsed on it, bottle breaking as it hit the floor. Eclipse stood, glanced at his father for long enough to be confident he was completely passed out, then turned to Zoroark.

_Let's go_, Eclipse said.

_Finally_, huffed Zoroark glaring at Eclipse's father with derision.

_We need to find another priestess_, Eclipse commented as he and his Pokémon gathered his things. Eclipse went into his father's room and opened the secret safe. All the money his mother had saved up from her work was sitting in a bag inside. He took it. His mother would have wanted him to have it anyway, he rationalized. And if his father needed money for beer, well then he could get a job.

Eclipse met Zoroark outside, the Pokémon laden down with a bag of food and other necessities for the road.

"See ya dad," Eclipse muttered as he and Zoroark walked away from the small house. This late at night there was no one in town to notice or attempt to stop the boy's exodus. By the time anyone would notice his absence, he'd be too far away for them to find.

* * *

_Transcript of a poster in the Nature's Guardians dorms:_

Greetings Fellow Guardians!

We fight for Pokémon, for the Outerlands and for the people we care about!

To be a successful part of our organization for years to come, simply remember our three rules:

1 - Don't leave the base without permission, we need to know where you are in case you get in trouble!

2 - No fights between members, we're a team!

3 - Don't enter the red building without permission, there are injured Pokémon in there and we don't want to disturb them!

Remember these three rules and we will have a happy community! Hail Nature!


	9. Breaking and Entering

Chapter 7: Breaking and Entering

* * *

Kai dragged Christina away from the Guardian Force building still babbling excitedly about how the girl was going to be her apprentice.

"Um," Christina interrupted. "What do you do exactly?"

"I gather information for the Guardians," Kai replied proudly.

"You gather information? How?"

"I hack, snoop and flirt. Want to give it a try?"

Christina was fairly certain at this point that Kai wasn't going to accept no for an answer, so she nodded meekly. "Where are we going?" Christina asked as Kai dragged the young girl down the street and towards the northern part of town.

"Somewhere with a computer."

* * *

Kai had brought the two of them to a fairly nice house and the older girl had gone directly towards the computer. After only a few minutes of poking around Kai had found something. Every once in a while Kai would explain how she did something, but for the most part the whole thing went over Christina's head.

"The pass the woman used was a forgery and it matches those created by a man named Roland Darmouth. I'd better tell Preston." Kai sent a quick text then resumed her search. "The passes were issued to someone named Blake Salem."

"So does that mean he's working with Nature's Guardians?" Christina asked.

"Not necessarily. Normally someone issues a pass to an Outerlander and their name is used to authorize it. The main problem forgers face is picking a name to put in the place of the issuer's name. They can't use their own names because only important people get to issue more than two passes a year. If they put their name on more than that it would be too easy to track it back to them. So what do they do?"

"Use other people's names?" Christina guessed.

"Yep. The only problem is if they were to write your name on a pass you would get an alert. Upon realizing someone had used your name against your will you would immediately report them."

"So they have to pick people who can't or won't report them?"

"Precisely. Made up names aren't accepted by the system so there is only one avenue left. People who aren't here. If someone isn't in the city, they can't get alerts, but since they are still citizens despite not being here, their names are accepted on the passes.

"So all they have to do is use the names of people outside the walls."

Kai nodded. "Pretty much. Creating the actual pass takes a lot of work too, but if you don't have the right name all that work is useless anyway. The name on this one, Blake Salem, he was reported missing by his sister Nami three years ago."

"Is it easy to find out who isn't in the city?" Christina wondered.

"For me, yes, for most people, no."

"So how do you think they got Blake's name?"

"Good question." Kai's fingers clicked across the keyboard as she searched. "Blake Salem. He's nineteen, assuming he's still alive, and a Pokésoul. His partner's a Houndoom. Sister is Nami, also a Pokésoul. She's now seventeen and her partner is a Frosslass. Parents are deceased."

"Has Nami's name been used on any passes?" Christina asked.

"Let me check." Christina watched as the screen changed to a list of passes and their issuers, plus dates used. "Doesn't look like it."

"There," Christina said pointing at a name. "That's Blake again."

"You're right. We should check out the other passes used that day."

Most of the passes were legitimate, but two of the others were also fake. "This is interesting," Kai said as she looked at the records. "All three of the fake passes used that day were issued under the names of Pokésouls." She stared at the screen, then gasped, "Ken!"

"Ken? Who is that?"

"My brother. He was killed for giving information to the Guardians."

"I'm sorry," Christina said. "Uh, what does that have to do with this though?"

"This is what he sent to the Guardians before he was killed." Kai clicked around on the computer and a video window popped up. It was badly framed and it was obvious the person taking the video didn't want the people in it to see him. Two people were speaking, but only one was visible. The visible one was a woman with long red hair. Beside her stood a Growlithe.

"Leave the city," said the person who was off frame. Christina could just make out his shoes, black boots, but that was all. His voice was masculine, deep and deeply chilling. Christina could tell from his voice alone that this was not someone she would want to meet.

"I don't want to," the woman replied, crossing her arms.

"You will. Unless you want your daughter to die."

"You won't touch my daughter," the woman snapped and her Growlithe stood, growling at the man.

"I won't. They will." Christina couldn't see what happened, but she assumed that the man showed the woman something because her eyes grew huge and tears began to fil her eyes.

"Don't hurt her!" She begged. "I'll leave, just don't hurt her!"

The video cut off.

"What was that?" Christina asked.

"The woman's name is Carla Smith. She disappeared four years ago. It was assumed she left of her own volition until Ken gave the Guardians this video. They never figured out who the man was and they assumed it was an isolated incident. But now I'm not so sure." Kai pressed more buttons on her computer and several names appeared. "These are all Pokésouls that have left one of the cities in the last ten years."

Christina studied the list. "How many is that?

"Fifty seven."

"Fifty seven!? That sounds like a lot."

"It isn't strange for Pokésouls to leave the city," Kai explained. "Their connection with their Pokémon seems to make them like the outdoors more, so no one really paid much attention when one left. They usually come back after a few months though, and none of these did. And if you look at them all together that's when things get interesting."

"How so?"

"Why don't you look at it? See if you can find the pattern?"

"Okay," Christina moved closer to the screen and studied the data. The list had the name, birthdate and day they left filled in. The birthdays seemed disparate, and there was no gender bias she could find, so she studied the dates they left. "Ah," Christina said in understanding.

"You see it?"

"Only a few people left over four years ago. That means that most of these people left over the span of four years."

"Exactly," Kai said proudly.

"Where did they all go?"

"I don't know," Kai sighed. "It does explain why the Pokésoul division at the Guardian Force has been having so much trouble though."

"I wonder if that was the point..."

"What do you mean?"

"The birthdays, they aren't similar, but none of these people are very old. None of them are extremely young either."

"They're all of the age where they'd be eligible to join the Guardians," Kai inferred. Christina nodded. "And Nami Salem, she's a Pokésoul too, but they never did anything to her. But at the time she was only thirteen, too young to be an official member of the Guardian Force. Now they're accepting basically anyone, but when these people disappeared they were still subject to the same hiring restrictions as normal recruits."

"So does that mean they've been planning this for four years now?"

"I don't know. This is way bigger than I thought. But maybe it means Ken didn't die for nothing," Kai said quietly. "I wonder how much he knew. What he could have told us."

Christina and Kai sat in silence for a few moments. "Have you talked to the families of the missing people?" Christina asked quietly.

"Personally I haven't. Some families contacted the police, like Nami did, but most didn't. I suppose talking with them is a place to start. We should also pay a visit to the man who created the passes." As Kai began planning Christina felt relief as the girl shook off the sadness and resumed her normal demeanor.

* * *

Kirtus and Wolf were still on the lower level of the city when Wolf got a message from Preston. "Kai found the name of the woman who planted the bomb," Wolf explained. "She was here on a fake pass and Preston wants me to check out the man who made it. Want to come?"

"Is that legal?" Kirtus wondered.

Wolf shrugged. "We're not officially supposed to be investigating this anyway so it doesn't really matter."

This seemed to be flawed logic to Kirtus, but he _did_ want to help out. "I'll come along."

"Just, uh, try not to fall asleep in the guy's house."

The man they were sent to see was named Roland Darmouth. Judging by his house, he was a stuck up rich guy._ I bet he has a lot of great stuff to steal_, Siliva said. She was practically salivating at the prospect.

_We're here to investigate_, Wolf reminded. _Only take stuff that we can claim looked suspicious_.

"Big house," Kirtus said.

Wolf knocked on the door. There was no response. He and Kirtus exchanged looks and he knocked again, this time adding a yell. "This is the Guardian Force. Open up!" There was still no response.

"What do we do?" Kirtus asked.

"I don't know," Wolf replied. "I'll ask Preston."

Wolf dialed his boss's phone and held the device up to his ear. "Hey boss!" He said when it connected. "Darmouth doesn't seem to be in, what do I do?"

"We have probable cause, just break the door down," Preston replied sounding bored, as usual.

"Break the door down?"

"If that's a problem for you I'm sure Silvia can help out."

"You really want me to break the door down?"

"I'm not in the habit of saying things I don't mean Wolf."

"Right. Okay, breaking the door down boss." The line disconnected.

"We're breaking the door down?" Kirtus asked.

"Uh, yes. I guess so."

_We could use this instead_, Silvia suggested. Wolf looked down and saw a key hanging from the Sylveon's jaws.

_Where did you get that?_

_He hid his key under the doormat_, Silvia replied. _He deserves to have his house broken into. _

Wolf took the key and turned to Kirtus. "Good news, we don't have to break the door."

"Too bad," Kirtus sighed. "I was going to take a nap while you figured out how to break the door."

Wolf inserted the key into the lock and turned it. It moved smoothly and the door swung open. The interior was disappointingly normal. As the two boys walked into the house Wolf muttered, "I was expecting it too look more evil."

"It doesn't really look like an evil lair," Kirtus agreed.

The two checked all the rooms for signs of life to make sure the house was actually empty first, then they began to look for clues.

"Here's something," Kirtus said. Wolf closed the drawer he'd been looking through and walked to the other boy.

Kirtus was holding a cell phone and had an email open. "How did you get through the passcode?" Wolf asked. "Or did he leave his phone unlocked?"

"I used this," Kirtus replied, holding up a small electronic device. Wolf wasn't particularly gifted in electronics and all he could tell was that it was nothing he'd seen before. "It's code breaker."

"Where did you get that?"

"I made it."

"Wow!" Wolf said impressed. "That's really cool! Though probably illegal."

Kirtus shrugged. "I've never actually used it to break any passwords other than my own before. Take a look at this." Kirtus held the phone up to Wolf.

Wolf scanned the email chain. The first few weren't overly illuminating. It mentioned the order and payment of four fake passes, this meant that there was definitely more than one person in on the plan, but Kai and Preston had figured that out already anyway. They couldn't assume it was only four people either as Roland was hardly the only forger in Lumiose.

The two boys looked around the rest of the house, but there was nothing of interest. They couldn't find a computer or laptop, so the two just took the phone as it was the only thing in the house that had anything interesting.

"Time to head back to base," Wolf said. He looked down at Silvia who was eating an expensive chocolate bar and had several necklaces dangling around her neck. "I'm not taking the fall for that." Silvia just grinned smugly at him as she took another bite of chocolate.

* * *

A girl with waist-length mint green hair walked down the small roads grocery bags swinging from her arms. She had a single braid going down the left side of her heads tied off with a bright pink ribbon which floated behind her like a beacon. Her movements were graceful, her smooth stride turning the mundane task of walking into a dance. As she swayed to a tune only she could hear her green skirt swished around her legs, which were wrapped in black leggings. The white, long-sleeved top she was wearing was perhaps too warm for the weather, but it didn't seem to bother her. Trailing behind her was a Kirlia, it's movements as graceful as the girl's.

The girl's dance abruptly ended as she stopped before a house. She reached into her brown leather messenger bag and retrieved her keys. Just before she put the key in the lock her Kirlia spoke.

_There's someone in the house Mira_, the Kirlia said.

Mira became instantly wary. _What do they want Kira_? Mira asked.

_Unknown_.

Mira cautiously tried to turn the door knob. It was unlocked. She crept inside, glad of the black flats she was wearing as they made very little sound on the wooden floors. A clicking sound in the study drew her attention and she crept towards that room, peering around the corner.

"Hey Mira!" Greeted a black haired girl who was busily typing away on her computer.

"Kai!?" Mira exclaimed, releasing a heavy, relieved sigh. "What are you doing here?"

"Power's out in my house and I needed a computer."

"This isn't your house?" asked the small girl at Kai's side.

"Nope," Kai replied. "That's Mira Lee, this is her house. Mira, this is Christina, she's helping the Guardians with an investigation."

"Right," Mira replied.

"Are you a Guardian too?" Christina asked. "You are a Pokésoul right?" Christina nodded her head at the Kirlia.

"Yes, this is Kira." The Kirlia bowed. "We're not a part of the Guardian Force though. It sounds scary." Mira shivered slightly at the thought of working for them.

"Mira's a dancer," Kai explained. "Hey Mira, have you ever been visited by someone who tried to force you to leave the city?"

"No. Why would anyone want me to leave?" Mira wondered.

"Just a theory we're working on," Kai sighed. "A bunch of Pokésouls have left the cities and we know one of them was threatened. Based on the missing persons reports we can safely assume that at least another ten were threatened as well."

Kai was clearly in her analyzing mode at this point. Mira had met the other girl when she moved to Lumiose. Mira herself had moved to Lumiose two years ago to be part of the teenage dancing troupe. She'd met Kai when the older girl was investigating one of the instructors. It turned out he was an embezzler and after he was sent to jail the troupe fell apart. Mira decided to stay in Lumiose though because the arts scene was better in Lumiose than it was in any other city. She and Kai had stayed in touch since then.

"How did you even get in my house?" Mira asked, not entirely sure she wanted to know.

"I picked the lock," Kai replied casually.

"You can pick locks?" Christina asked, looking impressed. "I didn't even notice you didn't use a key!"

Kai shrugged. "It's not that hard." Kai stared at Mira for a moment, then said, "Are you going to put your groceries away?"

Mira looked down at the bags still swinging on her arm and blinked in surprise. "Yes, I should go do that."

* * *

While Mira put her groceries away Kai and Christina continued looking in to the disappearing Pokésouls, but they were getting nowhere. "I think this is all we're getting without more information," Kai said finally.

"What do we do then?" Christina asked.

"We should head back to headquarters. Preston might have something for us."

The two girls walked out of the study and ran into Mira. "Thanks for lending me the computer Mira!" Kai said cheerfully.

"You're welcome?" Mira replied, still sounding a bit confused.

"I'll see you later!"

"Nice to meet you," Christina added as they closed the door behind them.

"So you two are good friends?" Christina asked.

"Yep. I got her boss arrested for embezzlement." As the two walked away from the house, Kai made a mental note to check up on Mira in the coming days. If what she and Christina had found a as any indication, the Pokésouls in the city weren't particularly safe.

* * *

Preston idly scanned through his emails after hanging up on Wolf. The vast majority were spam messages. Emails that wanted him to buy new clothes or insisted that he needed this one particular book or his life would never be complete! After deleting the most obviously pointless ones he only had a few messages left. One was about the interagency meeting in a few days, which he noted, but the one that really drew his attention was the announcement of a new prisoner. Whenever a prisoner was held in the Guardian Force building for questioning, all the superiors were told in case there was information they wanted from that suspect. The one currently in custody was one Preston was interested in. One Roland Darmouth. That explains why he wasn't at his house when Wolf showed up there.

Hopefully, Wolf would find something in the man's house, but Preston was hardly going to wait for the end of that investigation before pursuing a new lead.

"Come with me Wyvrn," Preston said to the red-eyed male.

"Where are we going?" Wyvrn asked as he fell into step behind Preston.

"We have a man to question."

Preston and Wyvrn headed down to the basement where the prisoners were kept, flashing his badge at the door guard. He walked down the hallway of closed rooms which acted as cells until he found the one labeled Darmouth. Wyvrn stood behind Preston and glared.

Darmouth had the air of one who cares much to deeply about his looks, the gel and carefully designed clothes actually detracting from what was probably a fairly healthy, normal looking man. Preston flicked the switch which allowed communication.

"Roland Darmouth," Preston said.

"Y-yes?" Darmouth stuttered. He was clearly terrified, one of the criminals who wasn't afraid of the law because they thought they'd never be caught. Then when they _were_ they broke instantly. The man's eyes kept flicking to Wyvrn and he grew more and more anxious.

"What do you know about the passes you sold to the woman who bombed the power plant?"

"I - nothing."

"You must know something."

"Nothing!" The man insisted.

Preston sighed, a slow sad breath. "That's really too bad. I was hoping to spare you, but if you really know nothing there's nothing I can do."

"S-save me from what?"

"I believe you," Preston said (a blatant lie, but so was everything else he was saying). "But he won't." He gestured at Wyvrn who crossed his arms and looked on dispassionately. "Not at first anyway. He's going to have to torture you until he's absolutely positive you know nothing." The man was sweating profusely at this point. "If you could just tell me I could convince him to spare you, but if you don't know anything -"

"Wait!" Roland exclaimed. "I have something."

Internally Preston smirked, but it wouldn't do to give up his ruse so close to the finish, so outwardly he retained his expression of sad concern. "What is it?"

"The lady asked me to put her in touch with an information broker."

"Did you?"

"Yes, the one known as Virus. Is that enough? Is he going to torture me?"

"I can convince him not to," Preston said as he turned to Wyvrn. He turned off the sound again and gestured for the violent man to follow him.

"I was hoping I would get to hit him," Wyvrn said.

"Even if he hadn't told is anything I wouldn't have let you do that."

Preston led the way back to the third floor. Kai would likely know something about this, Virus person. He'd ask her about it when she came back.

* * *

Wolf and Kirtus got back to the Pokésoul division to find it empty.

"Oh, he's not here. I guess we'll just-" Wolf turned turned to Kirtus and found the boy asleep on one of the hardwood chairs, notorious for their complete lack of comfort. _That is truly impressive_. Wolf leaned closer to the boy. _Do you suppose he practices_?

Wolf took the seat next to Kirtus and emulated the boy's position. _I'm still uncomfortable_, he complained. Silvia looked on with bemusement.

* * *

Preston and Wyvrn returned to the Pokésoul division from questioning Roland. He opened the door to find Kirtus and Wolf. Kirtus was sound asleep and Wolf sat in the exact same position, though he looked too tense to actually be asleep. Preston stifled the sudden urge to draw on his face. "Sleeping on the job, Wolf?" Preston asked instead.

Wolf jolted upright with a lopsided salute. "What's happening?" He asked confused. "Oh! Boss! We found some stuff so we came to tell you!"

Preston sighed, he really needed to teach Wolf the proper way to report. "What did you find?"

Wolf turned to Kirtus and shook the sleeping boy's shoulder. "Hey Kirtus!"

Kirtus blinked awake. "Huh?" He said. "Oh, hello Mr. Rolfe."

"Hi Kirtus," Preston replied. "So what did you two find?"

"Here." Kirtus handed Preston a phone. It was open to an email which Preston quickly read.

"We thought Kai might be able to trace the email address," Wolf explained.

"Good idea. When -" Preston was cut off by the door opening and the girl in question coming inside.

"We got something!" Kai announced proudly.

Preston slumped into his command chair, propping his head on his steepled fingers. "What did you find out?"

"As I told you earlier, Roland Darmouth is the one who made the fake pass. After that we started looking into the name he used to issue it. Then we looked around at the other fake passes used on the same day and that's where things get interesting."

"Get to the point Kai," Preston ordered.

"Fine," Kai sighed. "The point is this: the fake passes were all issued to people outside the walls. But those people have one other thing in common - they are all Pokésouls that left the city under four years ago."

"They're all Pokésouls?" Preston mused. "Unlikely I suppose, but it is possible it simply worked out that way."

"We started looking at when Pokésouls left the cities and over fifty left just in the past four years!" Christina added.

"How many non-Pokésouls left?" Wolf wondered.

Kai shrugged. "I don't know off the top of my head, but not many people do. Go on trips sure, but they come back after a few months. If normal people were the same rarity as Pokésouls it would be more like ten who actually just _left_. Before four years ago we lost maybe one or two a year. After spending a month out there people usually just want to come back."

"Is it really that bad out there?" Kirtus asked.

"I don't know, I've never been," Kai replied.

"I have," Preston said. "It's different. Coming from the city and trying to live there is extremely difficult since there isn't much technology out there. You have to learn a completely new way of life which is too much for most people and why they generally come back."

"Some people also die," Kai added. "We can't keep track of people out there so we don't know which of them have died."

"Then when are they declared dead? They have to at some point don't they?" Wolf wondered.

"There's no law against going to the Outerlands," Kai replied. "And it doesn't matter how long you're out there, unless you've been exiled, you're a citizen for life. So they have to be very conservative in declaring people dead."

Preston nodded in agreement. "There's been talk of temporarily freezing the ID's of people that have been gone for over a year but nothing's actually been implemented."

"Have you heard of an information broker known as Virus?" Preston asked Kai, remembering the name Roland had mentioned.

"Virus," she mused. "Yes, I've heard of him. He's pretty shady and uses his hacking for evil!"

"Is hacking a super power now?" Christina wondered.

"Once you've learned the beauty of hacking you'll understand," Kai said.

"Apparently Darmouth directed the woman to Virus. We need to find out what Virus told them."

"Not a problem!" Kai exclaimed. She walked over to one of the desks and pulled a laptop out of one of the drawers which she then switched on.

"Why did we go to Mira's house if you have a laptop here?" Christina wondered.

Kai laughed a bit too shrilly. "No reason!" She said weakly.

"The laptop here is monitored," Preston explained. "Any hacking she does from there we keep track of."

"How much hacking do you do?" Wolf wondered.

"As much as I need to," Kai replied.

"Criminal," Wyvrn mumbled.

"Ironic coming from you," Kai retorted. During this entire exchange Kai's gaze had not once lifted from her computer screen and her fingers flew over the keys. "Here it is. It looks like... Virus gave them the plans to _all_ the power plants!"

"Not just our one?" Christina asked.

"All four of them. They have the layout and the security plans for all four."

"Is there any way to tell which one is the next target?" Preston asked.

Kai shook her her head apologetically. "They were all sent at the same time and there's no message attached."

Preston sighed and closed his eyes as he thought. "I'm sure security has already been increased, but they will have planned for that. If even one of those plants goes down the city will be in big trouble. We're getting by now on emergency power, but it won't be enough to power an entire half of the city."

"So what's the plan boss?" Wolf asked.

"We need to keep an eye on those plants. I want you all to go undercover as workers."

"What?" Wyvrn demanded.

"You need to be on the inside looking for suspicious activity. Christina saw the woman before she planted the bomb, if she had been one of us we would have been able to do something. So here's how it's going to go. Kai and Christina, you will take the northern plant. Wolf and Kirtus will keep an eye on the western plant. Wyvrn, you get the southern one."

"I won't fit in," Wyvrn said darkly.

"You will," Preston contradicted.

"Should I change clothes?" Wolf wondered.

"If you don't want everyone to know you're an upper level citizen you should," Christina replied.

"I'll change too!" Kai exclaimed. The two left, Kai clearly excited about whatever disguise she had planned.

This left Christina in a room with a sleeping Kirtus, Preston and Wyvrn. She turned away from the latter two (they scared her, one slightly and one completely) and went to sit by Kirtus.

After she sat, he shifted and sat up, blinking sleepily. "What's going on?" he wondered.

"We're going undercover in the other power plants," Christina replied.

Kirtus nodded acceptingly. "So how was your day?" He asked.

"We broke into someone's house and used her computer."

"Oh really? We broke into someone's house too! I didn't use his computer though, I just hacked his cellphone."

Christina sat in silent companionship with her friend, wondering at how it was that she'd never committed a crime until she met people in law enforcement.

* * *

_Wolf Answers Questions:_

"So what is a city-town?" Christina wondered. "I heard some people mention it earlier but I didn't get it. A place is either a city or a town right? It can't be both."

"Oh! I know this one!" Wolf exclaimed. "A city-town is a town that is on the city outskirts."

Kai nodded and added, "A lot of people want to move into the cities, but most never do and even the ones that succeed need a place to stay while they handle the move. So the city-towns are formed mostly of people wanting to move into the city. Most never get in, so they just stay there, outside the walls."


	10. Skies and Rivers

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys! I'm probably not going to post a chapter next week because of Thanksgiving, I have plans and I don't think I'll have time to write a chapter. So sorry about that!**

**But here is this week's chapter, I hope you enjoy it! :)**

* * *

Chapter 8: Skies and Rivers

* * *

Locke followed Lucinda's Staraptor on its flight, staying far back enough that the Staraptor wouldn't see Locke. It was an easy job, the Staraptor had no idea Locke was following it. That was what Locke believed anyway. One second the Staraptor was there, the next it had disappeared down into the forest. Locke cursed mentally (earning a distant chuckle from Sky who was following along in the back of her mind) and dove after the bird Pokémon.

Locke searched the forest, but the Staraptor was nowhere to be seen. _Where did it go_?

_Let me see_, Sky requested. Locke opened her mind and felt Sky's mind join with her own. In this way the two were able to share memories, mental skills, and, relevant to this instance, senses. Locke moved his head from side to side, giving Sky an overview of the situation. Sky's vision was limited to what Locke was looking at as she had no control of Locke's body. Their link was already strained by the distance as well, so they didn't feel as connected as they normally did. _I don't see it anywhere either, _Sky said finally_. _

_Should I keep looking? _

_Don't bother. We're heading out for Hoenn so come on back. We'll figure this out some other time. _

Locke turned away from the woods and veered back towards his partner. Her soul was like a guiding star, one that never went dark. Locke followed the call unerringly.

* * *

Lucinda's Staraptor waited for the Scyther to leave, then continued on its way through the woods. Lucinda was right, Sky _was_ nosy.

The Staraptor flew, finally ending up in a town where it entered the window of a small, run down home. It dropped the bag, then flew back out, returning to its trainer.

Inside the house an older man picked up the money, a sad smile on his face. "I hope you're staying safe Luce," he mumbled softly as he went to put the money away.

* * *

The Garchomp had brought the four travelers safely to their destination of Olivine and they were now exploring the town. "So this is Olivine," Pecha mused. "I thought things would look different since we're in Johto now, but this looks basically the same as Sinnoh."

"The world is made of trees and Pokémon, no matter where you go," Zyra said, looking wise.

"Wow!" Nevin gasped. "That's so true!"

"It's also nonsense," Pecha muttered.

"What's that?" Nami wondered, looking at a group of people in the town square.

_They seem to be listening to something_, Yuki said.

"Let's go see," Zyra suggested, weaving her way through the buildings and wagons like they were a forest made of wood and stone. The others followed less gracefully.

Is seemed that most, if not all, the people in the town were at whatever gathering was occurring. Nami could faintly hear someone speaking, but the human wall blocked the sound too much to make out any words. Zyra waved at her from a rooftop and gestured for Nami to join her. Nami took the extended hand and managed to scramble up the side, which was much more difficult than Zyra made it look.

Nami gasped a bit after settling on the roof next to Zyra (Yuki got to float, lucky ghost). Once she'd caught her breath she looked at the center of the mass. There stood two people upon a small stage, one woman and one man. The man was rather tall and fit. He stood behind the woman, leaning against one of the supports on the platform appearing rather bored.

The woman was the one speaking. Nami could just make out short brown hair and a hint of golden rimmed glasses on her face.

"Join Nature's Guardians," the woman was saying. "The cities are full of pampered rich people who think they're better than we are just because they were born _there_, and we were born _here_. They take our resources! They take our money! They send the raiders here, they want us dead. Join us and we can stop them!"

"What is she going on about?" Pecha wondered from beside Nami, she and Nevin having at some point climbed onto the roof as well.

"I have no idea," Nami replied. "Everything she's saying is a lie. Well, except for people being born in the city being allowed to live there."

"Are you sure she is?" Zyra asked. "Wouldn't the cities be able to stop the raiders if they chose to? But they don't. Maybe they _are_ the ones behind it."

"The cities are not behind it! Do you know how many raiders there are? It would be impossible to catch them all! That's why cities have walls. They keep the raiders out, but they don't stop crime. Our crime is just different."

"That doesn't change anything."

Nevin looked between the two girls, confused.

"Hey!" Pecha exclaimed. "Arguing gets us nowhere. But really Zyra, if the cities were behind the raiders don't you think they'd have guns rather than spears?"

"What's a gun?" Zyra asked.

"It's a weapon," Pecha replied. "It shoots small pieces of metal at people." Zyra cocked her head in confusion. "They're dangerous okay!"

"It sounds ridiculous," Zyra said. "Are you sure you're not making that up?"

"I've seen them on TV!" Nevin exclaimed, evidently excited to participate in the conversation.

"Really? So they are real," Zyra mused.

"So you believe _him_," Pecha grumbled.

"You told me that part of the city _floats_," Zyra replied. "I know that's made up."

"It isn't actually," Nami corrected. "The city is made up of an upper and lower level. The upper one floats."

"Now you're both trying to convince me that's real?"

"It is!" Pecha insisted.

"Will you shut up?" yelled an old lady in the crowd. She glared at them and lifted a potato, aiming it at their perch.

"Sorry!" Nami squeaked as she ducked and covered her head.

"We can talk if we want to!" Zyra declared.

"Uh, maybe we shouldn't pick a fight," Pecha suggested.

"Should I put her in my friendship journal?" Nevin wondered.

"You deviant youths!" the old lady screamed.

"Deviant?" Zyra repeated.

"Youths?" Pecha added.

The whole scene was drawing the crowds attention, and in turn, the notice of the people on the stage. "What's going on?" demanded the brown-haired woman.

"Those idiot kids won't shut up!" explained the potato lady.

"We're allowed to talk," Zyra said. "I won't be silenced!"

_Why are we traveling with these people again?_ Nami wondered.

_We have a lead on your brother now_, Yuki replied encouragingly. _Focus on that. _

_Right... Find Blake. Find Blake_. The potato flying past her face broke her chant. The vegetable hit the roof with an audible thud and rolled down, falling off the room and landing on another villager's head.

"I think it's time we left," Pecha said.

"Good idea," Nami agreed as the villager who'd been hit turned to glare at them, murder in his eyes.

"I can take them!" Zyra exclaimed.

"I'm sure you can, all the same..." Pecha grabbed Zyra's arm and ran to the side of the roof opposite the crowded square. Nevin and Nami followed.

The four scrambled down to the ground and weaved through alleyways away from the square until all sounds of pursuit had faded. "That was fun!" Nevin exclaimed. "I'm going to add potato lady to my friendship journal!"

Pecha and Nami had both slipped to the ground, panting as Nevin sat and began scribbling in his notebook. Zyra stood completely at ease, as if she hadn't just been sprinting through an unfamiliar town.

"We should head out today," Zyra said. "It's still early we can make a good start on getting to this River person."

"Right..." Pecha gasped. "Which way is she Nevin?"

Nevin shrugged. "I need a map."

"So we'll go buy one," Nami replied.

"You go do that," Zyra said. "I'll go see if I can find some berries. We're getting low on food."

"Fine, meet us over by where the Garchomp dropped us," Pecha said. Zyra nodded and she and Darkfire slipped through the buildings and towards the open fields outside of town. Nami, Nevin and Pecha turned the other way, seeking out a place to procure a map.

* * *

Zyra and Darkfire walked along the bushes on the outskirts of town hunting for edible berries. So far they hadn't had much luck, Zhra blamed the proximity of the town. Berries didn't like civilization, they were a lot like Zyra in that way.

"What are you doing?"

Zyra spun around to find a girl staring at her curiously. She was short and quite young, though Zyra got the air of an adult off her. Plus she'd snuck up on _Zyra_, something that happened very infrequently.

"Looking for berries," Zyra replied, on her guard.

"Berries huh?" The girl replied curiously. "What for?"

"To eat. Who are you?"

"Me? The name's Sky Mayfly! Who're you?"

"...Zyra."

"Nice to meet you Zyra."

A Scyther appeared out from above and settled next to the small girl. The sight triggered a memory Zyra had. That memory was Pecha talking about a girl with a Scyther trying to kill her. Was it possible this was the same girl? They were so far from Zyra's forest by now it seemed unlikely, but Zyra knew something was off about this Sky girl.

_I'd rather not find out what her deal is_, Darkfire murmured. _Let's go._

Zyra gave the mental equivalent of a nod and backed away saying, "Nice to meet you! Sorry but I have to meet my friends!" Sky's knife like smile was all the answer she got.

* * *

The girl, Zyra, seemed interesting so Sky followed her. She was waiting for Lucinda to make flight arrangements anyway, so Sky had nothing better to do. Sky tailed the girl into town where she met up with three other people, one of whom Sky vaguely recognized.

_Who is that?_ She wondered as she stared at the blue-haired girl.

_I don't know_, Locke replied, sounding bored.

_Hmmm_. It wasn't until a Luxray took a place at the girl's side that Sky remembered. _Right! She was that girl we attacked on the statue theft!_

_Oh yeah, she is isn't she? _

_Should we go say hi?_

_I have a feeling you're going to do that no matter what I say_. Locke replied wearily.

Sky slipped down from her rooftop perch and into a crouch on the ground. She sauntered over to the four people and grinned at them. "Hi!" she said cheerily.

"Ah!" the blue haired girl squeaked, pointing at her and backing away. The Luxray began sparking and growled at her.

"You know her?" asked a girl with a Frosslass floating by her head.

"Her name's Sky," Zyra replied, though the question clearly hadn't been aimed at her. The sole male in the group appeared confused and was looking between the three girls.

"She tried to kill me!" the girl with the blue hair squealed.

"I did not," Sky said airily. "If I wanted you dead Blue you'd be dead. I did you a favor really!"

"How is trying to stab me doing me a favor?" The girl was standing her ground now which Sky grudgingly respected. She'd run like a little coward last time.

"Made you run faster didn't it?"

The girl's eyes narrowed at this and her gaze turned venomous.

"What are you doing Sky?" Lucinda wondered, looking at the standoff impassively.

"Talking with an old acquaintance."

Lucinda looked at blue hair more closely and asked, "Is that that girl you tried to kill on the road?"

"See! You did try to kill me!" blue hair exclaimed.

"I didn't! Not that I have anything against killing, I just don't want people thinking I _failed_ to kill someone. The blow to my reputation would be huge!"

"Your reputation as what?" Zyra asked.

"An assassin of course!"

"You're an assassin?" The fancy black-haired girl said, horror in her tone.

"Indeed I am! Sky Mayfly, best assassin you'll find in the Republic."

"How could you know you're the best?" Zyra snorted.

"If there were anyone better they'd've killed me."

"It does seem likely," Lucinda agreed. "Assassins are not sociable people."

"Then why are you hanging out with her?" Zyra wondered.

"Can we stop making small talk with the assassin?" blue hair snapped. "We have someplace we need to be anyway!"

"Where you going?" Sky asked.

"We're going to see River Mayer!" the boy answered as blue hair yelled at him not to say anything.

"So you're going to Azalea then," Lucinda surmised.

"Azalea," the fancy girl repeated. "Is that where she lives?"

"You didn't know that?" Sky said. "How were you going to visit her if you didn't know where she lived?"

"We were going to find out!" Zyra countered.

Lucinda extended a hand to them. "I would like payment for my information."

"You already told us, why should we pay you?" blue hair said dryly.

"I can tell you how to get to Azalea," Lucinda replied.

"That could be useful," the boy agreed.

"Or we could go buy a map," blue hair disagreed. "I don't trust her." She pointed a finger at Sky who grinned at her. "Or anyone who travels with her. I'm going to need to verify anything they tell us before I'm willing to follow it."

"You know, you may have trust issues," Sky said. "You should get that checked out."

"I have issues trusting people who attack me yes!"

"If you know something I'd like to hear it," the fancy girl cut in, placing a gold coin in Lucinda's waiting hand.

"Are you serious?" blue hair exploded.

"Azalea is down that road," Lucinda explained. "You'll have to go through New Bark town and its the one after that. River lives in a mansion there, it's the only building that could possibly qualify. You won't miss it."

"Why are you telling them so much?" Sky complained.

"They paid me."

"Gah, money," Sky muttered.

Blue hair glared at the two, holding her bag defensively in front of her. As if that would help her. Just as Sky was contemplating actually attacking the girl with intent, Lucinda distracted her. "We need to leave now if we want to make it to Hoenn by nightfall."

"Fine," Sky replied. As she walked away she paused, then turned back. "What's your name anyway?" She asked the blue haired girl.

"...Pecha," she said finally.

"Okay _berry girl_, you'd better hope we never meet again. I'm not going to be as nice next time."

"Well I won't either," Pecha spat back. Sky raised her hand in a cheery wave, completely at odds with her previous statement, then darted after Lucinda.

* * *

"So she isn't your friend?" Nevin asked when Sky and Lucinda were out of sight.

"No! She attacked me!" Pecha replied.

"Maybe she had a reason."

"Some people are just bad," Pecha said. "They like hurting people and that's all the reason they need."

"Well Azalea is pretty close by," Nami said, looking at the map they'd bought earlier. "It should only take us a couple days to get there so it won't be too much of a loss if it turns out she was lying."

"Fine!" Pecha said, clearly still uneasy with the situation.

"Let's go through the woods!" Zyra suggested, pointing at a green splotch on the map between Azalea and Olivine.

"Uh," Nami said uncertainly.

"I'd rather not," Pecha added.

"Fine," Zyra sighed. "You all would probably just disturb the forest anyway."

* * *

The group walked (on the road, much to Zyra's displeasure) to Azalea. It took them a few days, but the journey was uneventful. Zyra kept sleeping in trees, Nevin added everyone they met to his journal, Nami asked about Blake and Pecha yelled at anyone who called her a berry. Business as usual. The group arrived in Azalea early in the day and sought out River's mansion.

There was only one place in town, as Lucinda had promised, that could possible be called a mansion. It was a large white building with a sign in front that read, 'Mayer Manor.'

"This looks like the place," Pecha said.

"It does?" Zyra said, her head cocked to the side curiously. "How can you tell?"

Pecha pointed at the sign.

"What's it say?"

"Can you not read?" Nami wondered.

"I can read!" Zyra protested. "But only small words. And only ones I need a lot. And simple sentences."

"In other words, no you can't," Pecha finished.

"I grew up in a forest!" Zyra said throwing her hands up in the air.

"It says Mayer Manor," Nevin explained helpfully.

"So do we knock or what?"

"What are you doing?" This came from a boy, dressed all in black, who was glaring at the four travelers.

"We want to see River," Pecha replied.

"Get out of my way," the man snarled.

"Why should we?" Zyra snapped. "We were here first!"

"Volke!" Yelled a girl's voice, coming from the direction of the manor. "Stop scaring away my customers!" Volke looked sulkily at the ground but remained silent. "Now what can I do for all of you?"

"You're River Mayer?" Nami asked.

"That's me," River confirmed.

"I was hoping you could help me find someone."

"Then please, come in." River gestured for the four travelers to join her and led the way inside the mansion. It was a huge place and Pecha couldn't even begin to estimate how much it would have cost. Whoever she was, River was extremely rich. The girl led them into a large sitting room. There was a luxurious fireplace (though it was unlit) and several plush chairs and couches settled around it haphazardly.

River settled herself into the largest, most decorative chair and motioned towards the other seats. Pecha selected one of the chairs and upon sitting down realized it was possibly the most comfortable thing she had ever sat on. Ever. She never wanted to leave.

Zap glared at her from her spot on the floor, clearly not wanting to hear Pecha's thoughts of how comfortable the chair she wasn't allowed to sit on was.

Zyra and Nevin both sat on a sofa while Nami chose the chair next to Pecha's.

"This is comfy!" Zyra exclaimed.

"These are great!" Nevin agreed. As Zyra bounced a bit, acting like a little kid, Nevin pulled out his friendship journal and began writing.

"What is he doing?" River wondered.

"That's his friendship journal," Nami explained.

"He writes about everyone he meets in there," Pecha added.

"They're all my friends!" Nevin said.

"Right..." River replied. "So you have yet to introduce yourselves."

"Sorry!" Pecha exclaimed. "I'm Pecha, that's Nami, Zyra and Nevin."

"Pecha like-"

"The berry," Nami and Zyra both finished. "Yes, we know," Zyra continued.

"Get that a lot do you?" Pecha's annoyed glare was the only response.

"I'm looking for my brother Blake Salem," Nami said, bringing the conversation to her request. "I want to hire you to find him."

"Alright," River said. "But I don't come cheap."

"I'm willing to pay what you ask."

"Two gold now," River said. "Just so I know you're serious about paying me. I'll get more when I find him."

"You're certainly confident," Zyra commented.

"I have resources," River replied. "Where are you from?"

"Nimbasa."

"Right, I'll see what I can find out. Feel free to stay here or go out on the town while I look into it."

* * *

River turned on her laptop. She hadn't had one to start out with. It had just been her wits and what little she could find at the scene. River was incredibly intelligent and she knew it. It wasn't bragging, it was simply a fact. Things that she could see clear as day, others just couldn't. They didn't see the patterns. They didn't see the truth, not the way she did.

When she was just staring out her career, she didn't have any of the resources she did now. It was just her, Mist and their wits. She'd begun solving crimes that had stumped the local police and slowly built up a reputation. After that, people started coming to her.

She was unsure at first, about all the attention, but as time went on she realized she loved it. River grew quickly bored without any puzzles to solve, having people seek her out to solve mysteries was certainly a way to keep boredom at bay. And boredom was the only reason to work now. She had become obscenely wealthy and would never have to work again if she so desired. River wasn't entirely sure what to do with all the money, so she'd bought a mansion, the one she was currently sitting in now. She soon discovered, however, that sitting in one place all the time made her bored again.

She'd travelled a bit, but in the end she just went back to work. Her laptop was a souvenir from a visit to one of the cities and a purchase she never regretted for a second. It gave her access to more puzzles after all, and puzzles were what she loved.

This was really why she helped Sky and Lucinda. River was not at all a proponent of assassins and their ilk, but to cross Sky Mayfly was asking to be killed. And if Sky didn't get the information from River she'd get it somewhere else. For River's well being and continued life, it was better to simply help. Luckily Sky and Lucinda tended to come to her with theft missions more than assassinations.

Most people, Sky and Lucinda included, came to River now, rather than the other way around and with the aid of her contacts and the Internet she didn't need to travel much anymore. Now she could discover most things from the comfort of her own living room. River had several contacts in the cities who helped her investigate, people like Kai Akiyama and Christopher Xanatos.

River was rather fond of Kai as the two had spent plenty of time discussing the ways they would take over the world if so inclined and River reached out to her now.

She clicked on the name, Akiyama and a window popped up. A prompt with her last name appeared and River began writing.

_Mayer: Ever hear of a guy named Blake Salem?_

_Akiyama: Blake Salem? Really?_

_Mayer: It's what I wrote. _

_Akiyama: His name just came up during an investigation. Why do you want to know?_

_Mayer: His sister is looking for him. Have anything I should tell her?_

_Akiyama: Nothing she's going to want to hear. It's probable he's in hiding from a group called Nature's Guardians_

_Mayer: I've heard of them. What would a city kid have to do with them?_

_Akiyama: It looks like they've been threatening Pokésouls in the cities and forcing them to leave._

_Mayer: Thanks Kai, next time I come around I'll buy you a coffee. _

_Akiyama: Wait! Ask his sister if she's ever been threatened by Nature's Guardians! _

_Mayer: Fine, fine. I'll tell you later._

_Mayer signed off!_

River closed the laptop and sighed. If he really was in hiding then finding him would be hard. She walked downstairs to tell Nami the bad news.

* * *

The four travelers were still in the living room, apparently basking in the comfort of River's furniture. Nami was the first to notice River's return. "Did you find him already?" Nami asked.

"Sorry," River replied, shaking her head. "It's looking like his disappearance was related the group called Nature's Guardians. Have you ever heard of them?"

"In Olivine we saw one of their speeches, but before that I'd never heard of them."

River nodded and said, "I think you should go to the Mage's guild."

"You can't help us?" Nami asked disappointedly.

"I'll keep looking, but if he is in hiding from Nature's Guardians it will take me a long time to find him. The Mage's Guild should be able to find him faster than me."

"So who are these Nature's Guardians people anyway?" Zyra wondered. "That speech we heard didn't give me much."

"They're a group protesting the division of the cities and the Outerlands," Nevin replied. "They're also generally against technologies that hurt the land."

"They don't sound so bad," Zyra mused.

"They weren't until lately," River said. "Some minor groups got pretty violent, but for the most part they helped people in the Outerlands. But they've been getting worse. They actually bombed one of the Lumiose plants a few days ago."

"What?" Nami gasped.

"They blew up a plant?" Zyra asked angrily. "Why would they do that?"

"I think you're thinking of living plants," Pecha said, coughing to cover her laugh.

"Of course I am, what other ones are there?"

"Power plants," Pecha explained. "They're buildings that provide power to the city."

"Why are they called plants?!" Pecha just shrugged.

"So where is the Mage's guild?" Pecha asked as Zyra muttered to herself about confusing technological words.

"That way," River replied, pointing somewhere to her left. The four travelers al leaned to look and found she was pointing at her wall.

"Uh..." Pecha said.

"Just go in a straight line that way and you'll get there."

"That sounds hard," Nevin said.

"Nah," Zyra scoffed. "That's easy! It's not like I had maps in the forest. I got this!"

"Wait!" River exclaimed before the wild girl could leave. "It was a joke! I have actual directions for you. Do any of you have a phone?"

"I do," Nami replied.

"If you give me your number I can send you the map." Nami rattled off a few digits that meant absolutely nothing to Zyra and River pressed a few buttons.

"Thank you," Nami said after checking her screen.

"You did pay me," River pointed out. "Be careful you guys, a lot of people have been getting assassinated lately."

"By Sky I'd imagine," Pecha grumbled.

"You know Sky?"

"_You_ know Sky?"

"She's a client."

"You help her kill people?"

"No! I help her find them, but she'd find them even without my help. At least if she comes to me she doesn't torture anyone for information."

"So Sky really is an assassin?" Zyra said wonderingly.

"I told you," Pecha grumbled.

"You help Sky?" Nami repeated. "Why?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you," River said with a note of finality. "You should go on to the Mage's guild. If I find something I'll call you."

"Thanks," Nami said politely and the four travelers left, on their way to the Mage's Guild.

* * *

_Zyra's Lessons in Civilization_

_The Mage's Guild_

"So what is the Mage's Guild exactly?" Zyra wondered. "A place where a bunch of Mages hang out?"

"Basically," Nevin replied. "I've never been but I've met people who have. People do live there, but it's more a place to keep books than anything."

"Books," Zyra repeated sounding disappointed.

"Magic books," Nevin elaborated. "Traditionally Mages are really secretive about their spells, the guild is hoping to spread them around so more people can use more spells!"

"The cities can't be too happy about that," Nami noted.

Nevin shrugged. "I don't know. They haven't stopped them so far."

"So if the guild is actually a giant library how will that help us?" Zyra asked.

"There are Mages there and with all the spell books they have one of them should be able to find and use a tracking spell to help Nami," Nevin explained.

"Okay," Zyra said dubiously. "To the Mage's Guild we go then."

* * *

**Note:**

**I hope the conversation with Sky wasn't too confusing/weird with not having people's names, but it was Sky's view and she just didn't care what their names were so everytime I tried to have them introduce themselves it sounded weird. In case it wasn't clear, blue hair = Pecha, fancy girl = Nami and Nevin was the boy. **


	11. Undercover

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry this chapter's a bit short, I ended up being pretty busy. Not a whole lot happens either, this is basically just a silly chap, but hopefully you enjoy it :)**

* * *

Chapter 9: Undercover

* * *

Christina and Kirtus sat in the Pokésoul room in the Guardian Force headquarters idly chatting while Wyvrn and Preston discussed plans. Eventually, Kai and Wolf returned. Christina had to pinch herself to keep from laughing, a restraint Kirtus didn't show.

"What are you wearing?" Preston asked, seeming remarkably composed.

Kai was wearing a short haired blonde wig and masculine clothes. She was clearly trying to pretend to be a boy, which Christina supposed she may pull off, but even if people thought her a boy they'd think her a very pretty one.

Wolf was simply ridiculous. He was wearing some sort of garish scarf half on his head and half trailing on the floor, a shirt so baggy it barely stayed on and pants covered in what at first glance appeared to be dirt, but was actually paint. He completed the outfit with comically large brown shoes.

"Why are you dressed as a boy?" Christina asked Kai. It was strange to see the girl out of her traditional clothing, and stranger still to be in black shorts.

"No one will recognize me this way," Kai explained.

"Who was going to recognize you?" Preston wondered.

"People," Kai insisted.

Preston shook his head and turned to Wolf. "Take that scarf off your head you look ridiculous."

"Why _is_ there a scarf on your head?" Kirtus wondered, slightly breathless from all the laughing.

"I was trying to put it around my neck but Silvia kept grabbing it and it ended up like this," he explained while trying to unwind the bright cloth from around head.

"I think I should have Charizard burn it," Preston said, one hand brushing lightly against one of his Poké Balls.

"But I like it," Wolf said piteously.

"Then don't wear it to work again. Or in my presence ever."

Wolf grumbled but agreed to the terms, stowing the multi-colored cloth in his bag.

"Are you ready Christina?" Kai asked, her high pitched voice obviously female. I nodded. "And my name isn't Kai for this mission, it's Keith."

"Keith," Christina repeated skeptically. "Okay Keith. Are you going to do anything about your voice?"

"How's this?" She asked in a much lower voice. It was...actually fairly convincing much to Christina's surprise.

"That was actually really good," Christina replied, her open shock showing on her face.

"I practice," Kai said in her normal voice, clearly loving the praise.

"Okay," Preston began, breaking up the conversation. "It's time for you all to go. We don't know when or where they're going to strike."

* * *

Christina and "Keith" wandered up to the northern power plant. "Here we are Keith," Christina said as they stood in front of the door. "Excuse me!" Christina called to the man standing in front of the door. "We're new and need our ID's verified."

Kai had done her research for this mission, so she understood what Christina was talking about. Only people who's ID's had been marked (or verified as Christina called it) were allowed entry. All others were prevented from getting in the door. This was another piece that the woman with the Nature's Guardians would have had to overcome. Somehow she obtained a verified ID, how this happened Kai had yet to find out.

The man at the front apathetically took their IDs and ran them through his device. He didn't even blink when he saw Kai's (which was quite at odds with her current appearance), confirming her suspicions that he wasn't paying any attention. This didn't matter, however, as the computer had a list of people to verify. If Preston hadn't added them to the list, an alarm would have sounded. The IDs were returned and the two girls walked over to the door. Christina slid her card through, the light turned green and the door unlocked. She entered and the door swiftly shut, preventing anyone from following her inside. Kai copied Christina's actions with her own ID and stepped inside.

Kai had never been in a power plant before, but she'd seen photos online. This one looked exactly like them, though the photos she'd perused were of the southern plant. "So this is a power plant," Kai mused, unimpressed. There was rather too much grey for her taste.

When they were shown to their jobs Kai was even less impressed. She was to stand in front of a computer and make sure none of the warning lights came on. That was it. "This is it?" Kai said horrified. "This is so boring!"

"But important," Christina added.

"Aargh," Kai groaned, slumping forwards onto her console. "This is going to be a long assignment.

"I'm on lunch duty," Christina said. "That will let me keep an eye on a lot of the plant. If I see anyone suspicious I'll come tell you." Christina slipped away leaving Kai alone with her computer screen full of blank lights.

"This sucks," she complained aloud. The computer blinked happily at her and Kai sighed, resigning herself to boredom.

* * *

"This is awesome!" Wolf exclaimed, bouncing between different devices in the western plant. "Look at all the gadgets!"

Kirtus watched the two with bemusement, never having seen this much excitement about a power plant before. After Wolf calmed down and sat himself at his position Kirtus leaned over his console and fell asleep.

* * *

Wolf stated at Kirtus who was sprawled on his computer, completely asleep. "You're okay with that?" Wolf asked one of the plant workers who was walking past.

"Every position has several redundancies," the man replied, stopping to talk. "My job is to make sure at least one person for each job is focusing."

"That seems really inefficient," Wolf mused.

"It is," the man confirmed. "There aren't many jobs open to people down here. The people paying us here are the rich up there." The man pointed upwards. "So we may, exaggerate how many people we need."

"So you hire as many people as you can so that more people get paid."

The man nodded. "Huh," Wolf said.

"Where are you from?" The man asked. "Another transfer from the east plant?"

"Uh - yep," Wolf replied, remembering the cover story. "Me and him used to work there." Wolf gestured at Kirtus's asleep form.

"Didn't you guys do the same thing there?"

"I was new," Wolf lied quickly. "I never got a chance to ask all my questions."

_Smooth_, Silvia commented sarcastically. The Sylveon was hiding itself in Wolf's bag at his feet. They didn't want to give Wolf away as a Pokésoul, as that would draw more attention than they wanted right now.

"Well if you have anymore questions I'm happy to help," the man said.

Wolf excitedly opened his mouth but Silvia hissed at him. _Don't draw attention!_

_Right_, Wolf sighed. Aloud, he said, "Nothing right now. If something comes up I'll ask you."

"Be sure you do," the man said with a smile. "My name's Trevor."

"I'm Will," Wolf said. He was having fun doing all this spy stuff. Fake names, different clothes, new life story - it was exciting.

Now he was Will Summers, a poor orphan living on the streets of Lumiose. Unfortunately, Wolf was the exact opposite of all these things so he was finding playing the part a bit difficult.

Wolf loved playing out these scenarios, he'd done it as a child imagining all the things that may have happened to him that he forgot, but now he simply enjoyed pretending to be someone else. However, this particular life story was much more boring than anticipated. He contemplated lying down and sleeping like Kirtus was, but remembered he was supposed to be on the lookout for suspicious characters. Wolf hoped Kirtus was paying more attention than he seemed, because Wolf had no idea which people would count as suspicious. One of the women in the room had long black hair that hadn't been brushed in so long, her head looked like a bush. That seemed suspicious to Wolf, but no one else even have her a second glance.

_She looks scary, right_? Wolf asked Silvia.

_Yep. She could be hiding a bomb in that hair, _Silvia replied.

_You think she is_? Wolf looked at the hairdo speculatively.

_I could check. _

_Better not, but if she makes a move be ready_.

_Of course_. So Wolf sat at the ready, splitting his attention between his terminal and the others in the plant.

* * *

Wyvrn approached the southern power plant, still in his black outfit complete with black trench coat. He'd left Kadabra at home, hiding a Pokémon of its size was a bit difficult. The bored looking man stationed in front of the plant door straightened suddenly as Wyvrn's eyes fell on him.

"I need to get in," Wyvrn's said. The man at the desk trembled.

"I-I can't let you in sir," the man said weakly. "Only authorized personal can enter."

"I am authorized," Wyvrn said, his red eyes promising violence if the man disagreed.

"Of course you are," the other man squeaked. He grabbed Wyvrn's ID and verified it.

Inside the plant Wyvrn looked around dispassionately at the gathered people and Pokémon. "This is the plant?" he asked.

A friendly older woman beamed at the scary Guardian. "Indeed it is!" She exclaimed. "Isn't it wonderful?"

"Not the word I was thinking," Wyvrn muttered.

"No? Then was it lovely? Or superb? Perhaps glorious?"

"No! It was _terrible_."

"Oh," the woman said surprised. "Well that's stupid. This place powers the whole city!"

"It powers a fourth of it," Wyvrn corrected.

If this went down the city would be in chaos!" The woman yelled.

"I didn't say it wasn't important, I'm just not impressed."

"Who are you anyway?" growled the woman. "You come in here and insult our plant? Get out!"

This sentiment was echoed by several other workers and Wyvrn was expelled from the plant into the waiting arms of police officers, who had been called by the frightened man at the front desk. A car ride and several shoves later and Wyvrn found himself in a prison cell.

* * *

About an hour later, Preston showed up at the prison. He leaned back against the far wall, arms crossed and one brow quirked in amusement. "So how long did it take you to get thrown in jail?" Preston asked sardonically. "Ten minutes?

"If you thought I'd fail why bother sending me?" Wyvrn demanded.

"There was a chance you wouldn't," Preston replied. "Plus I wanted to see how long it took for someone to call the police."

Wyvrn lunged at his boss through the bars, but he was standing just out of reach.

"Calm down there Wyvrn, or I may just leave you here." Wyvrn glared at the man, but backed away.

"Well what about the plan? Do you have anyone else to send there?" Wyvrn demanded.

"I called in a tip telling them to keep an eye out. But the southern plant is the oldest and smallest - the least likely target. Kai and Wolf's are the more likely to get hit anyway."

Wyvrn's blood burned and he glared at his commanding officer who gazed back in amusement. "You think this funny?" Wyvrn spat.

"Yes, actually." Another man entered the room, an officer judging by the dark blue uniform he was wearing. He held a set of keys, one of which he used on the door releasing Wyvrn. "Come on Wyvrn," Preston commanded. Wyvrn obeyed only because he didn't want to sit in that cell a moment longer.

"Why do you do these things?" Wyvrn asked as the two left the station.

"Control. You're a wild card right now, until you can learn to control yourself you're useless to me." Wyvrn's rage rose to the top and he couldn't take it anymore. His fist lashed out only to be caught by the other man's hand. "See?" Preston asked.

Anger and embarrassment mingled until Wyvrn couldn't stand being in Preston's presence a moment longer. He jerked his fist out of the other man's hand and turned away, walking home. He refused to call it fleeing, even if that's what it was.

* * *

After an hour or so of doing what her job was, Kai grew extremely bored and decided to multi-task. If she had to stare at the lights for any longer, she'd go insane. Now she understood Kirtus's ability to sleep anywhere, he must've gotten a lot of practice at the west plant.

Kai moved the warning light window on her terminal to the side, opening up a new window that she could use. Her plan was to track down Virus using the power plant's systems. Virus had somehow obtained the plans for all three of the plants and there were only two places those plans were stored. The plans for the plant were stored in their respective plants databases, so the eastern plants schematics were in the eastern plant's database and so on. The other place the plans could be found was in the city hall building.

Kai was betting that Virus had gotten the information from the power plants, not city hall. The only real complication to getting the files from the plants was that you needed a connection to their database, which meant hooking in directly through one of their computers. Virus could have bribed someone to help him (or her as the case may be) do that pretty easily. But the main reason Kai didn't think Virus took the schematics from city hall was that all of the floor plans in city hall were physical. A hacker like Virus wouldn't want to mess with physical documents.

So Kai was fairly confident in her plan. First she would track the file down herself, then she'd look to see if anyone else had accessed it recently. Once she tracked the previous accesses down to the source she'd at least know what computer Virus used to get the information, assuming he was the one who accessed the file. Kai didn't think there'd be much of a reason for anyone else to look at the schematics though.

Kai spent her first day poking around, but didn't manage to find the file until the end of their shift. The lack of organization in their file structure was atrocious. Now that Kai knew where the file was it would be easy to find at least, so she could pick up right where she left off tomorrow.

Christina appeared by Kai's terminal as the day ended to walk back with Kai.

"Hey man," Kai said in her Keith voice.

"Why are you talking like that?" Christina wondered.

"It's part of my cover," Kai replied. Christina shook her head confused. When they got out of the plant and were a ways away from other workers, Kai spoke again in her normal voice. "Did you find anything suspicious?"

"Nope," Christina replied. "But I don't know everyone yet and it will take me a few days to get to recognize people enough to know when someone is out of place."

"I haven't found anything yet either," Kai sighed.

"It was just the first day," Christina pointed out.

Kai nodded but was still disappointed. The two girls walked into the elevator to the upper level. They didn't have to report to Preston, he only wanted to be notified if there was something worth knowing. They were headed to the upper level because they were going to stay with Mira. Kai wanted to half because there was no power at Kai's house and half because she was worried about the Pokésouls disappearing, and Mira was a Pokésoul. Christina was joining her because she didn't want to risk anyone following her back to her grandfather's house and hurting him.

The two made their was down the city streets to Mira's home, where Kai actually knocked this time instead of letting herself in. The door was answered by Kira. "Kirlia," the Pokémon said.

"Hi," Christina replied as the Kirlia moved aside to let them in. Kira shut the door behind them and they went to the living room where they heard the sounds of a TV show.

"Hi Kai! Christina," Mira greeted from her spot on one of the two couches. Kira took a seat on the fluffy blue couch next to her partner.

"Are you sure you don't mind me staying here?" Christina asked.

"It's fine," Mira said. "I have plenty of space!"

"Thank you very much."

Kai slumped onto the empty couch and looked at the television, which was showing some sort of crime drama. "What is this?" She wondered.

"Pokésleuths," Mira replied, sounding excited. "It's about a woman Pokésoul with a Swoobat partner who solve all the crimes before the police do!"

Christina sat on the couch beside Kai and watched the screen entranced. "I've never had a TV before," she admitted.

"Really?" Mira exclaimed. "Then we have to start this at the beginning!"

"From the beginning?" Kai asked.

"She hasn't gotten to binge watch a show yet," Mira explained as she went to her cabinet and began sorting through her movies. She pulled out a set of discs in a box with a blonde woman and a Swoobat posing dramatically on the cover. She put in the fist disc and sat next to Kira. "This is going to be fun!"

The three girls did have a lot of fun, staying up way too late and discussing the plot in way more depth than was necessary. Kai complained at every hacking scene (it isn't that easy! You don't just wave your fingers and get in!), Christina laughed at their depictions of the power plants (no one works that hard there in real life) and Mira cried every time something sad happened (Calm down Mira, it's just a show. But it's so sad!). The three finished the entire first season that night, all of them passing out where they were at the end of the last episode, unable to draw the strength to move somewhere more comfortable.

* * *

Wyvrn returned home and sat on his (black of course) couch next to his Pokémon partner._ You just need to control yourself, like he said_, Kadabra consoled.

_I don't care what he said_, Wyvrn growled.

_Don't get mad at me..._

_I'm not the one with the problem! Why should I change myself to suit the ignorant fools in the world?_

_You don't have to change,_ Kadabra replied. _Just don't physically attack people. Yelling's still fair game._

_So I should try yelling at people instead of hitting them? That may work,_ Wyvrn mused.

As their conversation ended Wyvrn's phone began rattling on the desk. He kept the device set to vibrate because Wolf's monstrous Sylveon had gotten a hold of it once and they'd changed the ringtone to a terrible pop song. Wyvrn hadn't been able to change it back, no matter how hard he tried.

He picked up the small device and answered. "Hello?"

"Wyvrn," said the voice on the other line, Preston.

"What?" Wyvrn snapped.

"I was hoping you'd cooled off by now," the other man replied. "Regardless, I have a mission for you."

"A real one this time?"

"Completely legitimate." In an undertone Preston added, "though this one was too," but luckily it was too indistinct for Wyvrn to hear.

"Well what is it?"

"There's a Guardian Force informant in Celadon who hasn't reported in in several weeks. I need you to find out what happened to him."

"Very well, who is it?"

"His name is Christopher Xanatos," Preston replied. "I'm sending you the details now."

Wyvrn's phone vibrated, indicating the information had arrived. He put Preston on speaker and opened the file. There was a picture at the top of Christopher, a tanned male with long, scraggly black hair. He looked ragged and as if he'd been digging through a garbage can not much earlier. "This man works for the Guardian Force?" Wyvrn asked doubtfully. "He looks like he's been swimming in refuse."

"Not officially," Preston replied. "He has information on large amounts of people in Johto and Kanto. Sometimes we ask him for intel and pay him. I tried to make contact with him after the attack but he didn't respond. That's not all that strange, but then I heard someone else in the force has been trying to get in touch with him and hasn't heard back for several weeks. That _is_ odd. As for the refuse, well he is homeless."

"So you want me to check on him?" Wyvrn said unenthusiastically.

"Yes."

"Fine," Wyvrn grumbled, hanging up on Preston before he could say anything else.

Just as he went to put his phone down it buzzed. He glanced down to see a message which said, 'When you find him, don't hit him.'

Wyvrn glared at the phone and threw it. The device was saved by Kadabra who stopped it from hitting the wall just in time. _That's valuable_, Kadabra chastised.

Wyvrn snatched the phone out of the air where Kadabra held it and stalked out the door. _Let's go to Celadon_, he said.

* * *

_Wolf Answers Questions_

_Pokésouls_

"How much do the two of you actually share?" Kirtus wondered. "I've heard you two can share abilities and things, but what does that actually mean?"

Wolf startled, having thought the boy was asleep, but answered the question. "I can use her moves and her fairy powers in general. We can also use each other's senses, I can see through her eyes if I want to and she can look through mine. I get the better end of the deal because she can use my physical skills if she wants to, but there isn't anything I can do that she can't. What she does get from me are mental things."

"Mental things? Like what?"

"Well she never went to school but I did, so if she wanted to solve a math problem, she could access my ability to do math and solve it herself."

"So they can use different knowledge based skills the human has."

"Exactly! Things like reading and science. That kind of stuff."

"Interesting," Kirtus mused.

Wolf nodded in agreement. "That said, no one actually knows the limits of the bond, that's just what I know from experience so far."


	12. The Mage's Guild

**Author's Note:**

**Here's the new chapter, I hope you all enjoy it!**

* * *

Chapter 10: The Mage's Guild

* * *

The four travelers soon found themselves at the Mages Guild, River's directions having been proved accurate. Nami was thankful for the directions, as navigating the Outerlands was rather difficult when one was used to having things like road names and signs, or anything that told you where you were or where you were going really. The Outerlands roads were unnamed dirt paths that sometimes simply stopped with no warning. Nami had lost count of the number of times she'd gotten lost when traveling on her own.

"So this is the Mages Guild," Zyra mused as the four walked towards the guild. "It's very... pointy." Pecha opened her mouth and Zyra made a stop hand gesture. "I don't want to know! It was just an observation!" Pecha's mouth closed and she looked disappointed.

Zyra was correct, the guild _was_ very pointy. It was a massive grey stone building complete with several spires. There was a central spire surrounded by smaller spires, a gap left for the front door. The tallest spire, the central one, was at least five stories tall, though judging from the outside was difficult. The smaller spires Nami estimated to be more like three stories tall. Even coming from the city as she did, the building was impressive.

"Shall we?" Nevin asked, bouncing and looking at the guild excitedly. "I can't wait to learn some more magic!"

"I need to see the guild master," Nami said as they walked towards the entrance.

The four companions walked in the front door into the central spire. All four of them stared around the room in various states of awe, though Zyra's was bordering on disgust. When Nami looked upward, she could see all the way to the top of the spire. It was a circular room, made completely of white stone. Nami assumed they had used magic, as there were no seams where two stones met. It was as if the entire room had been built out of one piece of stone, which was extremely unlikely. The room was empty save for a wooden desk where a girl was seated, a pointy black hat upon her head and a book in her hands.

"Hello and welcome to the Mages guild," the girl said flatly. "What can we do for you today?"

"I need to track someone down," Nami said.

"You need to see a guild elder then." She pressed her hand upon a symbol on her desk, said "Call." And then a spark of blue light slipped up from the symbol and sped away.

"What was that?" Pecha wondered.

"Calling someone who can help you." The girl ignored the travelers and shoved her face back in her book.

A minute or so later a girl appeared. "Hello!" She said. "Come this way!"

"Hi there!" Nevin said. "What's your name?"

"I'm Gina," the girl replied.

"Gina!" Nevin pulled out his friendship journal and began writing. Nami watched, impressed at his ability to walk and write without bumping into anything.

"So where are we going?" Nami asked.

"We're going to see master Geo," Gina replied. "He's a guild master."

"You're an apprentice?" Pecha asked.

"Yep." The girl pushed her side bangs out of her face, letting them join her shoulder length brown hair. Her brown eyes glanced at the four travelers curiously as she led them down the hallway. She wore a denim vest over a blue tank top and a black skirt.

"What does an apprentice do?" Pecha wondered.

"We learn magic," Gina answered. "We also do menial labor for the guild, sorting books, cooking food, that sort of thing."

"Could you teach me a spell?" Zyra asked. "Magic looks useful."

"It is," Gina replied. "The guild is all about spreading knowledge of magic and using it in helpful ways. I can give you an apprentice spell book if you want."

"Thanks," Zyra said.

"I'd like one too, please," Nevin said.

"What about you?" Gina asked Pecha and Nami.

"I'm from the city," Nami said. "I'd prefer not to use any magic unless I have to."

Gina nodded in understanding and looked at Pecha. "I'd better not," Pecha said. "I'd be interesting in learning about how it works though."

Gina came to a stop in front of a large (way too big, how tall were the people here anyway?) door and turned to Nami. "Geo is in there. I'll take the rest of you to the library. When you're done, press this rune and it will show you the way." Gina muttered something Nami couldn't make out and pressed her hand to the door. A small area of the wall began to glow a faint blue color. Nami thanked her and Gina walked off, followed by the others who wished her luck before she left. Nami steeled herself, then opened the door.

* * *

Nami entered a room which was much more comfortable than the entrance room had been. The ceiling in here was a normal height and the floor was carpeted in a warm brown, making the room seem friendly. It was clearly an office of some kind, shelves and papers littering the sides of the room. In the center there was a desk and a man sat behind it.

"I'm Geo," said the man. He was getting on in years, grey gracing his mostly brown hair. He wore dark green robes "What can I do for you?"

"My brother is missing. I was hoping you could help me find him," Nami explained.

"Do you have any idea where he might be?"

"None."

"There is a spell that tracks through blood that I can use, but it requires an Oval Stone. We don't have any at the moment."

The hope Nami had been feeling abruptly vanished. "But I know where you can find one."

"Where?" Nami asked, hope beginning to fill her again.

"There is a cave near here, Dark Cave. If you go there and retrieve a stone, I can perform the spell for you."

"I'll get one," Nami promised. "Thank you."

"Take this," Geo said, a paper magically appearing in his hand. Nami took it. It had a picture of the stone and directions to the cave.

"Thank you," Nami said again. She bowed politely and left the room. She pressed her hand to the rune Gina had made and followed the small bead of blue light that traveled along the wall.

* * *

"This is the library," Gina said throwing open another set of too-large doors. Based on the route they took, Pecha believed that they were now in one of the spires. It was a tall room (though not as tall as the entry room) with shelves that went up as far as Pecha could see. The shelves were completely stuffed with books, some even sitting horizontally on top of others to fit more on the shelves. Interestingly, the shelves didn't actually start until about a foot above Pecha's head; the wall below that had windows and painting decorating it. Piles of books were settled haphazardly across the floor, tables and couches everywhere in the room. Zyra and Darkfire settled themselves onto a bare spot on a couch near the window as Pecha and Nevin carefully navigated the floor, making sure not to step on any of the books.

"How do you get the books?" Pecha asked, looking upward. She could reach the books on the bottom shelf, though it would be awkward, but any above that were completely out of reach.

"Like this," Gina replied. She walked to a podium standing to one side of the room and placed her hand upon it. The podium began to glow with an unearthly light. "Ice spells for beginners," Gina said. A bead of light went from the podium up the shelves until Pecha lost sight of it, then the light in front of Gina brightened and a book appeared.

"That's the book?" Pecha asked. Gina nodded.

"Cool," Nevin exclaimed, examining be podium. "The spell's built in?"

"Yep," Gina said. "One of the masters built it a long time ago."

"I hope it never breaks," Pecha mused. "Getting books normally would be really hard."

"How do you put them away?" Zyra wondered, looking upwards.

"They're spelled to go back automatically if someone hasn't touched it in a few days. They also go back if someone tries to take them out of the guild, that way we don't have to worry about anyone stealing any of our books."

"Cool," Nevin said.

"Spooky," Zyra muttered.

"So magic can be imbued in objects?" Pecha asked. "You don't have to cast it every time?"

"The spell is written into the podium and the price paid when it was created. Now you just need to activate the spell. Anyone can do it, it's easy!" Gina explained.

Pecha picked up the book and flipped through it, skimming parts of it. It appeared to be a list of spells - all related to ice. It was a lot like a cook book, but instead of recipes it contained spells. "Interesting," Pecha mused.

Gina walked to a cabinet in the back of the room and pulled out two books, giving one to Nevin and one to Zyra. "These are our most basic spell books. We've been mass producing them, hoping that more people can learn magic. When the cities see how many people are using it, and how much good it's doing they'll have to change their minds about it!"

"The cities are terrible," Zyra snorted.

"You still haven't been to one," Pecha pointed out as she continued to flip through the ice spell book.

"I don't need to to know they're awful."

"Thanks for the book!" Nevin said to Gina. He began flipping through the pages eagerly, Typhlosion peeking over his shoulder.

The doors swing open abruptly and Nami and Yuki entered, the girl looking pensive.

"How'd it go?" Pecha asked, glancing up from the book.

"He has a spell that can help, but it needs an Oval Stone to work," Nami replied.

"From your tone I'm assuming he doesn't have one of those."

"He doesn't. He knows where we can find one though, there's a cave nearby we can look in."

"Oh, you mean Dark Cave?" Gina asked.

"Yes," Nami answered. "Do you know of it?"

"I sure do. Want me to show you the way? I could go with you," Gina offered.

"That would be very helpful," Nami replied. "Thank you very much." The girl bowed slightly, Yuki mimicking the motion.

* * *

"This is Dark Cave," Gina announced. She stood before the mouth of the cave, which Nami could immediately tell was aptly named. It was completely dark inside.

"I-I don't want to go in there," Nevin said nervously. "Can I wait out here?"

"You afraid of the dark?" Zyra asked. "Why? It can't hurt you."

"Things coming out of it can," Nevin pointed out.

"You can stay here," Nami said. "None of you have to come with me, this is my quest."

"No, I'll come," Nevin said heavily, though despite his tone and obvious fear there was still a smile on his face, albeit a nervous one.

"Are you sure?" Nami asked.

"Yeah, Typhlosion can keep it light in there anyway, so nothing to worry about!

"Thank you," Nami said. The five people entered the cave cautiously.

Nevin and Typhlosion quickly lit up the cave, the flame Pokémon creating a steady flame from its back that filled the darkness with flickering light.

"Do you have any idea where these Oval Stones are supposed to be?" Pecha wondered.

"Geo didn't say," Nami replied. "He gave me a picture though." She held up the paper with the picture of a white, oval-shaped stone drawn on it. "I don't know where in here to find one though."

"Don't look at me," Gina said. "I've never actually been in here. But I'd guess they'd be on the ground or in the wall."

The group searched the walls and the ground as they walked, finding little more than dirt and plain rock.

"This is boring," Zyra sighed. Darkfire was asleep on the girl's shoulder, wrapped around her neck like a Pokémon scarf.

Pecha sat on Zap's back, explaining that she was using the Luxray's vision as the Pokémon could see through walls. "We haven't seen anything of interest yet," Pecha informed.

"Can you really see through walls right now?" Gina asked.

"I can't, but Zap can and I can see through her eyes. I'm stuck looking where she's looking though."

"Weird," Gina mused.

"Says the woman holding a ball of light in her hands," Pecha muttered.

"What's that?" Nevin asked, pointing at a protrusion on the wall. The others gathered around, looking at the discolored rock.

Pecha looked through Zap's eyes, seeing the stone embedded in the rock itself. "This could be it," Pecha said. "Anyone have any idea how to get this thing out?"

"I was hoping we would find one on the ground," Nami admitted.

"We can cut away at the wall," Zyra said. "Darkfire?" Darkfire woke and jumped down from Zyra's shoulders to land lightly on her feet, then stretched and yawned. She sauntered over to the wall then attacked it with darkened claws.

_Night Slash_, Zap informed. The Umbreon's claws created fissures in the rock, but the white stone didn't come free

"If we try to do it that way it'll take forever," Pecha sighed.

"Um, guys," Nevin said nervously. He'd been a bit shaky the whole time, but he was worse now.

"What is it?" Zyra prompted.

"There's something moving out there," Nevin replied pointing into the darkness.

Everyone looked into the darkness, standing defensively. Nevin backed towards the wall, quivering nervously.

"It's alive," Pecha said, looking into the darkness with Zap's eyes. "I think it's a Pokémon, I can't tell what species though." Zap's eyes could see the outline, but color was lost in her x-ray vision making it difficult to identify it.

"Whatever it is it's enraged. I'll have to fight it to calm it down," Zyra said, hand grasping one of her Poké Balls and releasing the creature inside. Teddiursa appeared. The appearance of the bear Pokémon seemed to set off the lurking Pokémon and it charged them suddenly.

"Tackle," Zyra commanded and the Teddiursa charged at the shadowy form of the Pokémon.

"A Crandidos," Nevin whispered from where he was backed up against the wall. Pecha, Nami, and Gina were huddled by Nevin, all trying to stay out of Zyra's way, no one wanting to get hit by any stray attacks.

"Oh, I've seen them on TV," Pecha mused. "Never in real life."

"Same here," Nevin admitted. "They live in caves, and I never go in caves. Except for now, obviously."

The Crandidos was hit by Teddiursa, flying backwards and smashing into the wall with the impact. After being slammed into the walls several times, the Crandidos stumbled, stunned and sat abruptly on the ground. It's eyes had lost their reddish tinge and it didn't seem to be enraged anymore.

"Are you alright?" Zyra asked it, moving slowly towards the Pokémon. It cocked it's head at her and made a clipped sound. Zyra seemed to take this as permission to move more quickly and she was soon sitting at the Pokémon's side. She patted it on the head and murmured quietly to it. It was too indistinct for Pecha to make out the words, but whatever she was saying the Pokémon seemed to agree with at it was now happily barking responses back at Zyra.

Zyra stood suddenly and gestured at the stone in the wall. "We really need that stone, could you help us get it?" The Crandidos barked happily and stood up itself, marching to the wall. The Rock Pokémon hit the wall, loosening the stone. As the Pokémon worked on this, Zyra returned Teddiursa and the others went to her side.

"Was it mad about us being here?" Pecha wondered, glancing a bit nervously at the Crandidos.

"I think the light scared it," Zyra replied. "It's okay now though."

The Crandidos dug for a while, then returned to Zyra with the small, oval stone held in its claws. "Thank you," Zyra told it. The Crandidos hit one of her Poké Balls emphatically. "You want to come with me?" Zyra guessed. The Crandidos made a sound of agreement. "Okay then." Zyra held out a Poké Ball and pressed the button. The Crandidos was sucked inside and caught without a struggle.

"Can we leave now?" Nevin asked hopefully.

"This looks like the right stone," Nami replied. "We should go back to the guild."

"Thank you," Nevin gasped, hurrying off towards the exit. His pace forced the others to rush as well, not wanting to lose their Pokémon torch. Soon, they were all back outside and headed back to the Mage's Guild, ingredient for the spell in hand.

* * *

Sky and Lucinda approached the sleepy town of Petalburg. As they were walking over Sky noticed something disturbing, namely that there appeared to be other assassins around.

"Why are they here?" Sky asked as she walked with Lucinda towards the town. An assassin in a tree saw her and pulled back on her bow, but before she could fire Sky had launched a knife which lodged itself in the assassins throat. The body fell to the ground with a thud. Upon seeing this, a man hiding with a dagger abruptly stood and ran away as fast as he could. "He made the right choice," Sky said.

"Yes, trying to kill you is a sure way to get yourself killed," Lucinda agreed.

"But hey, why are all these people here? They already hired me, who else could they need?" Sky looked at Lucinda as if she were truly baffled by the question, and maybe she really was, Sky was an enigma to Lucinda.

"Maybe they hired them before you," Lucinda offered. "But they really want this girl dead. Sending more than one assassin after a teenage girl seems extreme."

"Well, it doesn't matter. We have a job, let's take care of it. This will just make it more interesting." Sky turned her feral grin on Lucinda, who sighed but nodded.

Then something occurred to her. "Sky. Did we ever find out what the job _is_?"

"Let's just grab her, then it doesn't matter what they want us to do!" Lucinda nodded and the two slunk into the town, hunting a girl with black hair.

* * *

Eclipse and Zoroark walked the dusty road to Petalburg. The two were following rumors that a powerful priestess lived there.

_Think they're true_? Zoroark wondered.

_We'll find out soon_, Eclipse replied.

Just outside Petalburg, Eclipse paused, sensing something off. A quick survey and he found a dead body of an assassin.

_You think the priestess did this?_ Zoroark asked.

_Looks like another assassin did it_, Eclipse replied, looking at the knife wound.

Eclipse studied the body for another moment, but it changed nothing. He stood and continued into the town.

* * *

Something was wrong. Gardevoir could feel menace and death, but was confused as to the source. The feeling seemed to be coming from several directions, but in a town as small as theirs it shouldn't have been possible. Deciding it was best to check it out, Starlight and Gardevoir walked out into the street towards the closest presence. As she walked towards it something flew at her, bouncing off a hastily erected Protect.

"Who's there?" Starlight yelled.

_Maybe we shouldn't announce ourselves_, Gardevoir commented.

_They already know where we are, why bother being quiet?_

_...Fair point. _

_"_Hey there girlie." The voice was female and Starlight whipped around, facing the speaker. She came from a different direction than the projectile. It was a short girl with a Scyther at her side who was flipping a knife in her hands. "You're Starlight, right?" The girl held a picture in the hand not flipping her blade. The picture was of Starlight.

Starlight began backing away asking, "What do you want from me?" She bumped into something warm which prevented her from getting further away. Starlight turned around, quickly taking a few steps back.

"We've been hired to take care of you," said the woman Starlight bumped into. She towered over Starlight and stared coldly down at her.

"Why?" Starlight asked. "I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Don't know, don't care," Sky replied, stepping towards Starlight.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Starlight asked. "Why haven't you killed me yet?" Not that she'd go without a fight of course, but these two hadn't tried anything yet.

They were both silent at that, almost sheepish which confused Starlight.

"Never mind that," Sky said. "You're coming with Lucinda and me."

_"_No she isn't. I want the girl," a new voice said. This voice belonged to a boy with a Zoroark who stared coldly at them with his one visible eye.

"No! She's ours," Sky exclaimed.

"How much money will you give us?" Lucinda asked.

"Are you serious?" Sky demanded. At Lucinda's blank look Sky groaned, "Of course you're serious."

"So?" Lucinda prompted.

"How much were you being offered?" The boy asked.

"Two hundred gold." Quite suddenly, one of the still hidden assassins fired an arrow. Either the aim was off, or they weren't aiming for Starlight as the arrow went straight at Lucinda. The woman swiftly lifted her hand while saying, "Shield." A barrier of blue light flashed before her and the arrow bounced off. Sky had turned to watch and the boy seized his chance.

"Come on," he hissed at the priestess, taking her hand and pulling her along.

"Hey!" The girl yelled before Eclipse could cover her mouth.

"My name is Eclipse. I don't want to kill you, they do, you're better off with me," Eclipse reasoned.

"I don't know if they want to kill me," Starlight muttered, but let herself be dragged. So far, Gardevoir got the least bad feelings from Eclipse, though there was something else off about him. As far as she could tell he wasn't murderous at least, so Starlight and Gardevoir took their chances. Starlight was beginning to think they'd get away easy when the short assassin shouted.

"They're leaving! He's stealing our bounty!" Sky cried.

"Just leave it," Lucinda sighed. "We didn't even know what the job was anyway."

"But... I suppose that's a good point," the short one admitted. "Hey! Eyepatch kid!" Sky shouted. Starlight glanced between the tiny assassin and Eclipse. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that Eclipse was significantly older, how Sky could call him kid eluded her. "We're letting you leave, if I wanted you dead you would be!"

Eclipse snorted and muttered, "Same here." The words were quiet enough that the assassins didn't hear them, but Starlight did.

_So much for him not being a murderer, _Starlight said_. You think he wants to kill me?_

_I'm not getting that feeling, _Gardevoir replied_. I think he needs you for something. I'm not sure what that is, but he should keep you alive until you can do what he needs at least. _

_Or until we escape. _

"Where are we going?" Starlight asked. She received no response. "I'm -"

"I know who you are," he cut off. "Now be quiet." Starlight glared at him, but she obeyed, not wanting to anger the boy without knowing what his motives were. Starlight followed him silently, uncertain what was going to happen to her.

* * *

"You think Opal and Onyx will be mad?" Sky wondered from where she sat on the ground just outside Petalburg. "It would be interesting to see them with an expression other than blank on their faces."

"Doubtful," Lucinda replied. "Do you think we can fool them into giving us the money anyway?"

"Doubtful," Sky parroted. Lucinda shot her an unimpressed look.

"Sky, Lucinda," said a flat female voice. Sky whirled, daggers falling into her hands as she drew into a defensive pose.

"Where did you come from?" Sky yelled at the girl, who turned out to be Opal.

"I have come to find you both," Opal said.

"Not what I asked," Sky growled.

"Did you accomplish the task?" Onyx asked, appearing beside his sister.

"She escaped," Lucinda replied.

"No matter," Opal said. "Someone else will handle it. We need you to come with us."

"Why?" Lucinda asked.

"Our boss would like to meet you in person," Onyx explained.

"You work for someone?" Sky wondered, lowering her hands but keeping a firm hold of her knives.

"We are part of Nature's Guardians," Opal said.

"Please come with us," Onyx added, though despite the polite word it didn't sound like much of a request.

"Are you going to pay us?" Lucinda asked.

"Of course that's what you want to know," Sky muttered.

"Affirmative," Opal replied.

"I'll go then," Lucinda said.

"Me too," Sky added.

"Come with us," Opal ordered. She turned and walked away, her brother following suit. Sky and Lucinda exchanged a look, then followed them. The twins led them a short ways away where a Dragonite sat. Opal and Onyx both mounted the Dragon Pokémon and stared at the two girls expectantly. Lucinda released her Staraptor and held onto the Pokémon's leg.

Sky let out her Ditto, Hunter, who copied the form of the Dragonite. Once Sky was situated on Hunter, Opal and Onyx took off, flying high into the sky. Lucinda and Sky followed.

* * *

_Zyra's Lessons in Civilization_

_Mages Guild II_

"You mentioned a guild master, what does that mean?" Zyra wondered.

"Yes, I did," Gina confirmed. "The guild masters are the highest ranking members of the guild, other than the archmage herself that is. Here, all ranks other than archmage are decided by magical ability. So an apprentice could have been here for five years, but still be an apprentice if they haven't improved, while someone new to the guild who is already extremely experienced could move straight to master."

"So what ranks are there?" Zyra asked.

"In order of skill it goes: apprentices like me, journeyman, experts, masters and then there's the archmage," Gina replied.

"You said becoming the archmage isn't based on skill, so what is it based on?" Pecha wondered.

"The entire guild votes on who becomes the archmage. Any of the guild masters is eligible for the position. The archmage position is our leader and main diplomat, so magical experience is not the most important skill, and that's why we don't just pick the best mage," Gina explained.

"Ick, diplomacy," Zyra muttered.


	13. Above the Clouds

**Author's Note: **

**Sorry another short chapter. I didn't even realize how short this was until I was editing because for some reason my doc copied the whole thing and put parts of it between the original parts so it threw the word count way off. I think I got it all, but if you see any repeating parts let me know.**

**I'm not going to have time to write another real chapter for next week, but I have some random Christmasy stuff I'm writing (plotless stuff is way quicker to write hehe) that I'll post up so you won't go completely without. I hope you enjoy the new chapter :) And happy holidays everyone!**

* * *

Chapter 11: Above the Clouds

* * *

High above the world floated a slab of rock, upon which lived Nature's Guardians. The land below slowly drifted past and a man stood at the edge watching with a smirk on his face. His black hair and brown coat both rippled artfully in the breeze.

"Razan," said a woman with short brown hair as she approached the man. "What are you doing out here?" She adjusted her gold rimmed glasses as she looked at him quizzically.

"Just watching the world go by," Razan replied.

"It isn't safe this close to the edge," the woman chastised.

"You worry too much Erika." Despite his words, the man took several steps back and turned to face Erika. "Did you need something?"

"I just wanted to let you know that Alex and I had returned. No one in Olivine chose to join our cause, but I believe our words resonated with them."

Razan nodded in understanding. "Members aren't the problem anyway," he replied. "What we need now is recognition. Soon we will be known everywhere."

"How is the Lumiose plan progressing?"

"I have faith in Altair," Razan said as he walked toward the black building, Erika automatically falling into step beside him. "One of the plants is down, the others will soon follow.

"Good."

"I've also spread word that money will be paid to those who take down Psychic Pokésouls."

"What about Starlight?" Erika asked.

"I sent Opal and Onyx out to hire people to bring her here. Dead or alive."

"I guess Altair was pleased to hear that."

"I've seen some of my puppets express more emotion than her. When her sister is gone she will be pleased though."

"True," Erika admitted, entering the black building as Razan held the door open for her. The black building was the building the more important members of the organization lived and worked in. It wasn't technically off-limits to anyone else, but it was extremely implied that they should not be there. Erika and Razan walked into the largest room in the building, a circular room with a round table in the center. Razan took a seat, Erika to his left.

There were already two people seated at the table, both male. The first was a tall, muscular man who stared blankly at the table with icy blue eyes. The second looked up when the two others entered and was now staring at Razan with his black eyes. He had silver hair which fell just above the spiked up collar of his dark grey jacket. Underneath was a black turtleneck and black jeans, tucked inside short brown boots.

"Xero! Alex," Razan greeted nodding first to the silver-haired boy and then to the bored one.

"Illustrious leader," Xero replied with an edge of sarcasm. Razan allowed it because he knew he had nothing to fear from Xero mutiny wise.

"Are we supposed to keep going on these stupid recruitment missions?" Alex asked belligerently. "You can send any old recruit to do that. We should be doing something else."

"I agree," Xero said. "Recruitment is beneath us."

"I know it is," Razan replied calmly. "I send you because I can trust you to tell me the truth. I need to know how the world feels. When we make our move, will they follow us? That is a question other members cannot answer."

"Does it matter what the world wants?" Alex wondered. "If anyone argues you'll just brainwash them."

"We can't brainwash everyone," Erika pointed out. "Psychic Pokésouls are unaffected for one, and Hypno can't keep too many people bent to its will."

"Erika is right, sadly, so we must earn their loyalty in other ways."

The Hypno in question was seated on Razan's right, the man's bonded Pokémon partner. "The cities will fall, the question is how many will be with us when they do." At this declaration the four began discussing their plans in earnest.

* * *

Scarlet was certain there was something interesting in the red building. It was the only building they wouldn't let her in, and she knew the injured Pokémon thing was a complete farce. Scarlet was a trained healer, if anyone should be in there it was her, not the wiped people like Terra and Onyx.

"We can't get in," Liliana commented, watching Scarlet glare at the red building. "They only let Terra and her mindless friends in. So unless you want to stop being Scarlet, we're going to have to look somewhere else."

_She's right, _Clarissa agreed. _It's too dangerous to sneak in there. _

_Why are you taking her side?_ Scarlet complained.

_She just happens to be right_.

Scarlet grumbled at her partner but conceded. "So then where do you suggest we look?"

Liliana shrugged. "Anywhere else?"

"Fine," Scarlet replied. "I really doubt we'll find anything though. I take left side you take the right?"

"Works for me," Lilana replied, walking out the door without another word, Percy following.

_I don't know about her, _Scarlet said_. _

_She's helping, _Clarissa replied_. _

_I know but she's annoying_. Scarlet walked out after Liliana and turned her attention to the pink building. She wasn't sure what was in there, but she was already sure it wasn't anything she needed. It ended up being another housing building. She did a walk through anyway, but it was as she suspected. Nothing of use.

When Scarlet exited the building to see Clarissa, who had remained outside, she found someone staring at the Dragonite. "What do you want?" She asked him suspiciously. The Houndoom at the boy's side began growling at her.

"I've never been this close to a Dragonite before," he said, looking at Clarissa with awe. Clarissa was clearly loving the attention and was practically posing.

_Tone it down_, Scarlet complained.

_But I have an admirer_! Clarissa exclaimed, spreading her wings and humming happily.

"Who are you anyway?" Scarlet asked aloud.

"I'm Blake," the boy replied. "That's Ren."

"Scarlet and the Dragonite's Clarissa."

"You new? I haven't seen Clarissa around."

Scarlet was slightly offended that Clarissa was more noticeable than her, but she supposed being a large dragon Pokémon was rather more of note than a person.

"We joined a few days ago," Scarlet replied.

Blake was silent at that, but she caught a hint of something behind his eyes. A something that was in Liliana's eyes sometimes too. Hopelessness.

"Why are you here?" Scarlet wondered. "Saving people?"

"Something like that," Blake replied darkly. "I should go," Blake said and he turned away from her, not even sparing a backward glance for Clarissa.

* * *

The first few days Liliana had been excited. Maybe they really would find something that could get the Guardian Force to come bursting in and save them, but she was already losing hope. So far everywhere she'd looked supported the Nature's Guardians general mission statement. _This is pointless_, Liliana complained as she searched the yellow building, which ended up beings storage building. The room she was in currently was full of vegetables, mostly potatoes.

_There must be something_, Percy replied encouragingly.

_Even if there is we aren't going to find the evidence with the potato stocks_, Liliana said, tossing one of said vegetables for emphasis. Percy wasn't in the room with Liliana, being slightly more difficult to conceal than the girl. He was, however, following along in her mind, using their link to see, hear, feel and even smell what she was experiencing. He could taste what she could as well, but that wasn't at all helpful in this instance. Since he was essentially not present in his own body, he was feigning sleep back in their room.

The door opened letting in a sharp burst of light making Liliana wince at the brightness after the gloom she'd been searching through. A girl stood at the door, head cocked curiously as she stared at Liliana. "What are you doing?" the girl asked. Liliana recognized the voice as Terra's

"Hi Terra. I was hungry," Liliana covered, hastily picking up the potato she'd previously thrown and taking a bite. She regretted it instantly. Potatoes were really not meant to be eaten like apples.

"You wanted a potato?" Terra wondered. "Odd."

"Not really," Liliana insisted, hoping to confuse her. She'd found that if you insisted hard enough about something the brainwashed ones eventually went along with it.

"Maybe it's not odd," Terra agreed, which relieved Liliana. "I need some of the vegetables."

"Right. I'll leave you to it then," Liliana said, slipping around the girl at the door and hurrying back to her room. She'd rather keep her incidents to one a day at least.

* * *

When Liliana got back to her room Scarlet and Clarissa were already there, the former lying on her back staring glumly at the ceiling. Liliana didn't blame her, she felt like doing the same thing.

"Find anything?" Scarlet asked without even glancing to see who came in.

"Potatoes," Liliana replied, dropping the vegetable in her hand on Scarlet's stomach. Scarlet sat up slightly to look at it.

"Potatoes?" she asked, picking up the vegetable and studying it. Apparently deciding there was nothing special about it, she threw it over onto Liliana's bed.

"Yep. You do any better?"

"No," Scarlet sighed. "We have to get into the red building. I know that's where they're keeping everything."

Liliana nodded in agreement. "Do you have any spells that will help? You seem better at magic than me. The only spell I know that might help is a detector spell."

"I know some things that might help," Scarlet replied. "So you're in?"

"I might as well see this through."

Scarlet smiled at her. "Then let's do this."

* * *

Liliana and Scarlet left their room to get a good look at the red building. They were hoping they'd find some sort of entrance they could use, though investigating was difficult as they couldn't get too close. As she studied the building out of the corner of her eye, Liliana noticed the creepy twins, Opal and Onyx, leading a short girl and a tall woman. Liliana watched them go by curiously. She nudged Scarlet and the two surreptitiously followed the group. The two girls were led to the leader's main building, the black building. The short girl followed the twins inside, but the tall one remained by the door. Scarlet waited a few moments, then walked up to the woman in the red scarf.

"Excuse me," Scarlet said, Liliana listening from her hiding place by the building. "You're the mercenary called the Red Neck, aren't you?"

"I am," the woman replied. "Why?"

"I have a job for you," Scarlet answered.

"What kind of job?" the Red Neck asked.

"I need a letter delivered."

"Do I look like a mailman?"

"No, of course not, but I need my letter delivered to Lumiose City. Most people can't do that."

"A city. That'll cost you."

"I know, and I can pay for it. Here," Scarlet handed the woman a single golden coin. The Red Neck stared at her, unimpressed. "The person you give the letter to will pay you more, this is all I can pay you now."

The Red Neck looked down at the coin thoughtfully, then said, "Okay I'll do it."

"Thank you." Scarlet pulled a folded sheet of paper out of her pocket and handed it to the mercenary. "I need you to give this to Preston Rolfe. He's a member of the Guardian Force in Lumiose city."

"The Guardian Force?" repeated the Red Neck. "He had better pay me a lot."

"He will," Scarlet promised.

"Alright, consider your letter delivered."

"Thank you," Scarlet said again, turning her back on the Red Neck and slipping into place by Liliana.

"You already had a letter on you?" Liliana asked suspiciously.

"I've been writing everything important down in case I ever had the chance to send anything," Scarlet replied.

"I guess there wasn't much in the letter," Liliana muttered.

"More than you'd think." The two crept back away from the building, silently deciding to resume investigating the red building some other day.

* * *

Sky and Locke walked inside the black building and was led through a door into a small room with a desk. At the desk sat a man, brown haired and smiling peacefully at her. Sky wasn't fooled for a second, this man was dangerous.

"Welcome," he said. "I thought there were two of you."

"The Red Neck prefers to remain outside," Sky said, using Lucinda's title for once.

"Very well," the man said. "Opal, Onyx, leave us." The twins bowed to him and left, the door slamming shut behind them. "My name is Razan," the man said. "I have a proposition for you."

"What is it?" Sky asked.

"I want you to kill the president of the Republic."

Sky laughed, then sobered when she realized Razan didn't find it funny. "Are you serious?" She asked.

"Deadly."

"No," Sky said. She pushed away from the table and began walking away, Locke following.

"Wait!" Razan commanded. "Don't you want to know more?"

"No," Sky repeated. "If I kill the president, I'll get killed. If you already had a plan good enough for me to survive, you'd have one of your people do it."

"I won't let you leave."

"That sounded like a threat." Sky's hand hovered over her dagger, ready to strike.

"You won't want to leave soon."

"What does that mean?"

"Hypno, come out." Sky continued to the door, but it was locked. _Should have had Lucinda come talk to him_, Sky muttered.

A Hypno stood up next to Razan and stared at Sky. Sky wasn't about to stick around and find out what Razan's plan was. _Locke_, Sky began.

_On it_, Locke replied. Locke ran at the door with her scythe-blades, tearing a hole in the door. Sky quickly slipped through, tossing a dagger back at Razan as she fled. The dagger halted midair inches from Razan's head, held in place by the Hypno's power.

Sky and Locke fled the building and grabbed Lucinda on their way out. The two girls ran to the edge of the platform, releasing their Ditto and Staraptor respectively, though Lucinda was a bit confused. however, the two had learned to follow the other's lead in cases like this so she didn't hesitate.

Hunter copied the form of Lucinda's Staraptor and the two girls flew off the island, away from their pursuers.

"We need to go to Lumiose," Lucinda said once they were confident no one was following them.

"Lumiose? Why would I want to go there?" Sky wondered.

"I got a job to deliver a letter."

"They could have just strapped the letter to a Pidgey. Why did you accept?"

"They offered a lot of money."

Sky sighed. "Why do I even ask anymore?"

"The recipient is in the Guardian Force," Lucinda explained.

"The Guardian Force?"

"We'll probably have to sneak in."

"Into the Guardian Force headquarters?" Sky asked excitedly. "We do that and we'll be legends! Fine, I'll do it." She said the last as if she were doing Lucinda a favor, but really Sky just couldn't resist a challenge.

"What did the leader want?" Lucinda asked. "You got out of there pretty fast."

"He wanted us to assassinate the president. I know I'm an assassin, but that's too much even for me."

"Killing him would cause chaos," Lucinda mused.

"Work's better when the world has order to it," Sky said.

"Agreed."

"Besides, if I had done it neither of us would have walked away from that one."

The girl's Pokémon veered towards Lumiose as they set off to deliver a letter.

* * *

Eclipse and Starlight continued down the street, Starlight showing obvious signs of weariness. Starlight knew Eclipse was tired as well, but he refused to let any of it show in his expression.

_There's something a bit off about him, _Gardevoir mused_. _

_What do you mean?_ Starlight asked.

_His bond with the Zoroark, it's not normal. _

_He's a Pokésoul. _

_It's more than that, it's like the original Pokésoul bond has been messed with. _

_Messed with? How?_

_I'm not sure, but it feels stronger than normal._

Starlight digested this information as she walked. Who would mess with a Pokésoul bond, and why? She didn't ask him though, the aura he gave off didn't invite personal questions.

"Are we going to take a break anytime soon?" Starlight asked instead.

Her question was ignored. "Why were those people after you?" Eclipse countered.

"I don't know," Starlight replied. "I haven't done anything to hurt anyone, I have no idea why they were after me."

"Do you know anything useful?" Eclipse grumbled.

"I know lots of things!" Starlight crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Useful things?"

"Yes!" Starlight stopped walking and abruptly sat down. "I'm tired. I'm taking a break."

"We need to keep moving," Eclipse disagreed.

"Then you keep going," Starlight muttered as she lay down on the grass, one arm slung over her face.

"I need you."

"Why? Why does everyone need me all of a sudden?"

"You're a priestess," Eclipse said.

"That's what they call me. You know it just means I'm bonded to a Psychic Pokémon right?"

"I know what it means," Eclipse snapped. "I thought maybe you didn't."

"Why do you need a priestess?" Starlight asked, realizing arguing with him wouldn't do much good.

"My mother was a priestess and she used to help me with a problem. Now she's dead so I need another priestess."

"And you found me. So what's the problem? Something to do with your weird bond?"

"You noticed?"

"I'm not as stupid as you seem to think I am. So what's wrong with it?"

Eclipse was silent for a moment, then turned his face away from her. "Watch this," he said. Starlight watched with interest as Eclipse slowly moved his eyepatch downwards, revealing an amber eye. There was a brief second where nothing happened, then dark energy suddenly erupted from the eye. It flew in a beam outwards, destroying the grass and trees in its path. Eclipse quickly recovered his eye, but it had already destroyed a fairly large swath of the land.

"What was that?" Starlight asked quietly.

"I'm permanently linked to Zoroark's dark powers," he explained. "I can't turn them off or control them. Luckily they only manifest in my eye."

"Can you cover it with anything or is that patch special?"

"My mother spelled the patch to contain the energy. Anything else gets destroyed."

"How do you expect me to help you with that?" Starlight asked, completely baffled.

"My mother used to work with her Musharna to limit my bond, stopping the darkness from flowing into me."

"Obviously it wasn't permanent."

"Even a temporary fix is better than living like this all the time."

"I'll help," Starlight said, feeling bed for the boy, even if he was a bit of a jerk. "But we should get somewhere safe first."

"Let's keep walking then."

* * *

Eventually it got late, and Eclipse knew they would have to find somewhere to stay the night. He didn't want to risk one of the inns dotting the road because of the people after Starlight. Instead, he led Starlight off the beaten path and looked for somewhere else they could sleep in at least relative safety.

"What are you looking for?" Starlight asked.

"Shelter," Eclipse responded shortly.

"We just passed an inn."

"No inns."

"Fine," Starlight grumbled. "How about that shack?"

Eclipse looked at where the girl pointed and his eyes settled upon a small wooden shack sitting upon a nearby hill. "That could work." The two made their way up the hill and approached the shack cautiously.

"Gardevoir senses a presence," Starlight told Eclipse.

"A person?"

"A Pokésoul."

Eclipse stared at the door thoughtfully. _Should we risk it_? He wondered.

_It's getting late. We need a place to stay_, Zoroark advised. _If there's only one person there we can handle them if we need to. _

Agreeing with his partner, Eclipse walked up to the door and knocked. A few moments passed, and then the door was being opened. At first, Eclipse saw nothing. Confused, he looked down and realized why he hadn't seen anyone. The person at the door was a ten year old child.

"Hello," she said quietly. "Do you need something?"

The girl had long black hair that flowed to her waist, the front held back by a blue headband. All of the girl's clothes were slightly too large for the girl's tiny frame. Her shirt's black sleeves had been rolled up several times, but they still covered a portion of her hand. The denim shorts she wore were the only thing appropriately sized. Her dark brown eyes looked between the two newcomers nervously.

"Hello there," Starlight said warmly, elbowing Eclipse out of the way. "I'm Starlight, this is Eclispe. Is there anyone else here?"

"Just Devoir," the girl replied. She pointed at a Kirlia that stood in the hallway, watching the exchange. "My name is Yunyi," the girl added.

"It's nice to meet you Yunyi. You see, we're traveling and we could really use a place to rest, could we stay here?" Yunyi looked at the two, then turned to her Kirlia. The three Pokémon spoke to each other, Eclipse only understanding Zoroark's contributions, and seemed to come to an understanding.

Yunyi moved aside to allow them entrance. "You can stay," she said.

"Thank you so much," Starlight gushed. Yunyi nodded and led them into what Eclipse assumed was the living room.

"I don't have much space," Yunyi said. "You'll have to sleep here." The girl was rather quiet and Eclipse found himself straining to hear every word.

"This will be fine," Starlight assured. Starlight immediately claimed the couch, clearly exhausted. The two of them had been walking since Eclipse had found her, so he couldn't really blame her. He felt about the same. There was only one couch, so Eclipse settled onto the plush chair sitting in the room. It proved comfortable, though he'd be forced to sleep a bit awkwardly. Despite the odd position, he was soon following Starlight into unconsciousness. The last thing he felt before he fell completely asleep was a blanket being draped carefully over him.

* * *

_Nature's Guardians Explained Through Posters_

_Know Your Leaders! _

_(Each name is next to a picture of a person)_

Razan - This man is our supreme leader, if you are ever lucky enough to speak with him one-on-one remember to treat him with the utmost respect!

Erika - She is Razan's right hand man (well, woman, but you get it) so if she tells you to do something, you know it's important.

Alex - He is an advisor to Razan, so be on your best behavior around him!

_(The picture is a completely black square)_ Xero - He refused to have his picture taken, but Xero is one of Razan's main advisors!

Altair - She isn't an advisor, but she _is_ Razan's favorite agent. Also making her mad tends to be a huge mistake so we thought we'd mention that here.

Remember, if you see any of these people, be on your best behavior. It's because of them that Nature's Guardians has become what it is today!


	14. Holiday Special

**Author's Note: **

**So this is a random holiday special thing, but it's just a bunch of one-shot things. They take place in universe, but they're ignoring the plot basically, so no ones really worried about anything. They're basically a bunch of mostly fluffy short things. Sorry if they're a bit disjointed (especially the Kai one) but I ran out of time to write, so I figured I'd just post it like this. **

**There aren't Earth religions in this story, so I just made a general Winter Day holiday that they celebrate.**

**The ones with Pecha's group in them take place before they get to the Mage's Guild. **

**Happy Holidays everyone!**

* * *

**Winter Special**

* * *

**Sky and Lucinda **

"Happy Winter Day Red," Sky said as she triumphantly laid down a colorfully wrapped box in front of Lucinda. Lucinda stared at it cautiously until Sky prompted, "Open it! You'll like it!"

Lucinda finally took the box into her hands, though she did so slowly, clearly suspicious,, and began carefully removing the wrapping paper. The paper revealed a small box which Lucinda opened.

"This is exactly what I wanted!" Lucinda exclaimed, near tears (okay, that was a lie, she said that in an even tone of voice, but Sky wanted it to sound more exciting). Lucinda carefully dumped the contents into her open palm. It was five golden coins.

"I knew you'd like it," Sky said proudly. She extended her hand out to Lucinda, clearly expecting a return gift. Lucinda handed over a package slightly larger than Sky's had been. Sky eagerly opened it, revealing a dagger which she immediately began flipping. "Cool!"

"I stole it from a thief in Azalea."

"Nice."

* * *

**Nami and Blake : Of Past and Present**

_About Four Years Ago_

"It's snowing!" Nami exclaimed. "Let's go outside!" She grabbed onto Blake's arm, pulling him down the stairs.

"I don't want to go out there," he complained. "It's _cold_."

"But it's _fun_! Please?"

At Nami's pleading face he caved, as he always did. "Fine," he sighed. "Coming Ren?" The Houndoom sent him a look of obvious disdain, then turned its back on him.

The two siblings ran outside, Nami followed by her Frosslass. Blake shivered as he watched his little sister make snow angels in the front yard.

"Let's make a snowman," she suggested once she'd finished lying in the snow. "We always used to..." With their parents, well adoptive parents, was what she meant. It was their first winter without them.

"Yeah, let's do that," Blake agreed, standing and helping Nami create the body.

Later the two stood staring at their creation. "Let's do this every year the first time it snows," Nami said. "Together." She held onto her big brothers arm and he patted her head, messing up her hair much to her displeasure.

"Yeah," Blake replied. "Together."

* * *

_Present Day _

"Hey look," Pecha said looking out the window.

"It's snowing," Nami finished sadly.

"Wow! Look at it all!" Zyra exclaimed, running over to the window.

"Let's make a snowman!" Nevin suggested, bouncing out of his chair.

"I'll just stay in here," Nami said as Pecha and Zyra stood.

"Are you sure?" Pecha asked.

"Yeah, I like it in here."

Zyra and Nevin had already gone, but Pecha hesitated. "Want me to stay with you?" she asked.

"No, you go have fun." Pecha studied her for a moment, then smiled softly at her and left. Nami looked outside and saw Zyra dump an armful of snow on Nevin's head.

* * *

Above the world on the base of Nature's Guardians a sprinkle of snow began to fall, dusting the buildings and ground. Blake stood looking up at the sky, catching flakes in his outstretched hand. "First snow of the year," he murmured, letting the flakes spill through his fingers.

* * *

_Sometime in the future (added this bit because ending with the previous made me sad)_

"It's snowing! We have to go outside," Nami said turning to her brother. "We're making a snowman this year. _Three_ snowmen actually."

"One for every year we were apart?" Blake guessed.

"Exactly!"

"Don't I have a choice?" Blake complained as Nami pulled him out the door. "You're a lot stronger now." He rubbed his arm where her hand had been clutching him.

"All that time in the Outerlands made me stronger," Nami reminded him. The snow crunched under their boots as they walked over the lawn. "Let's do this."

Blake nodded with a smile and the two began to work. While they were working on the second one someone came by.

"Nice snowman. Are you making another one?"

"Hi Pecha," Nami greeted without turning around. "We're making another two."

"That's ambitious."

"We're making up for lost time," Blake explained as he sat the head section onto the body of the second one. Nami quickly put the face on.

"Want to help with the last one?" Nami asked.

"Thanks, but I don't want to intrude," Pecha replied. "I'll see you guys later." Pecha waved as she walked by, continuing on down the road.

Nami and Blake were just finishing up the third snowman when they had another visited. "Three snowmen? That's a lot," the visitor said.

"Kai," Nami greeted. "It's nice to see you."

"Hi Nami, Blake," the informant said, nodding to them both in turn.

"Taking a break from hacking?" Blake asked.

"I don't hack all the time," Kai said. "There are other ways of getting information. Which I should probably get back to."

"Bye Kai," Nami said. Blake waved at the girl. Kai waved at the both of them and left.

Nami turned to look at the snowmen once Kai was gone. "Should we knock them over now?"

"Yeah," Blake said with a grin. The two charged at the snowmen, taking them down and ending up in a pile of snow, laughing.

Once the laughing had died down, Nami quietly asked, "Don't disappear again."

"I won't," Blake promised. The siblings lay in the snow, staring up at the overcast sky, smiles on their faces.

* * *

**Liliana and Scarlet:**

Winter Day with Nature's Guardians was a rather boring affair. Things were halfheartedly decorated, but people were clearly prioritizing other things. None of them could return home to see their families, so most people, Liliana included, didn't see much point in celebrating.

"They made cake for Winter Day!" Scarlet said excitedly as the two entered the cafeteria.

"Why are you so happy?" Liliana grumbled.

"Cake!" Scarlet replied.

"...Right. It doesn't depress you though, being here when your husband is out there?" Liliana waved generally out the window.

"Of course I miss him," Scarlet said as they waited in line. "But we'll make up for all the missed holidays when we see each other again."

"You really think you'll see him again?" Liliana wondered.

"We've come through too much together to never see each other again," Scarlet replied, her voice determined. She put a large piece of cake on her tray. "Don't you think you'll see your family again?"

"I don't know," Liliana replied. "I hope I do, but I may be stuck here forever."

"You won't be stuck here forever. Both of us will get out and we'll see our families again," Scarlet promised. "Now have some cake." Scarlet thrust a plate of the chocolate creation at Liliana who sighed and accepted. The two girls sat at one of the tables eating cake with false cheer, both desperately wanting to be somewhere else.

* * *

**Zyra doesn't know about Winter Day**

"We should all give each other presents!" Nevin exclaimed as the four travelers sat together in the inn.

"For Winter Day?" Pecha asked.

"Yeah!"

"Why?" Zyra wondered. "What's Winter Day?"

"Winter Day is the day exactly between spring and fall, the precise middle of winter. On that day you give gifts to friends and family to show you care about them," Pecha explained.

"That's weird," Zyra said.

"It all started a long, long time ago when Articuno -"

"Stop," Zyra begged. "I don't need another history lesson."

"It's really interesting though," Pecha said, though she didn't continue.

"So we're all going to trade presents?" Zyra asked.

"Winter Day is tomorrow," Nami pointed out. "Getting four presents in time will be difficult."

"What if everyone gets one present and gives one. The name you draw is who you give a present to," Nevin suggested, already tearing a page out of his friendship journal and jotting down their names. He held the crumpled slips of paper out and Zyra automatically took one. _Nami_, it said. Pecha and Nami drew as well, leaving Nevin with the last name. "This is going to be so fun!" Nevin exclaimed as he leapt out of his chair charging into the street, presumably to shop. Zyra left as well, walking down the street and wondering what she should give.

"Hmm," Zyra mused as she looked at the different stores. She couldn't buy anything, she didn't have any money of her own. She could barter, but she didn't want to exchange any of her stuff either, she needed it. Generally when Zyra went to buy something, she'd borrow money from Pecha or Nami, but Zyra had learned enough about politeness to know borrowing someone's money to buy someone a gift was not a polite thing to do.

_You could make something_? Darkfire suggested.

_A wood carving? Would she like that?_ Zyra wondered as her hand grazed against the wood-carving knife she kept on her belt. Darkfire shrugged. _Wood carving it is_.

The first step to any wood carving was getting the wood. Luckily whatever town they were in happened to be bordered by a forest, making this step easy. The second step, and the more difficult one for Zyra, was deciding what to carve.

After some discussion with Darkfire, they decided to carve a figurine of Nami's partner, Yuki. Carving a Frosslass was going to be strange, but Zyra was sure she could do it.

* * *

Back at the inn, Zyra handed over the figurine. "It's beautiful," Nami complimented, awed. "Thank you." Zyra grinned in response. Nami gave Pecha some sort of history book, Zyra didn't know or care about the specifics. Pecha handed Nevin a blank book, which he grinned at, confusing Zyra until she realized it was a new friendship journal for when his current one ran out of pages. The last present was from Nevin to Zyra. He handed her a bag of assorted holiday candies. "What are these?" Zyra asked, staring enraptured at all the amazing colors and shapes.

"Winter Day candies," Nevin replied. "Have you never had them?"

"No," Zyra said. She opened the bag and ate one. It was delicious. Once she'd finally eaten as many as she could handle, the bag was significantly lighter. "Thank you," she mumbled, slightly dazed from the intense sugar intake.

"So, was that a nice first Winter Day?" Pecha asked.

"Yeah, it seems like an okay holiday," Zyra replied flippantly. "I suppose I can keep celebrating it. As long as they make more of these." Zyra flipped another candy into her mouth.

* * *

**Kai and Mira throw a party (sorry this one is really choppy)**

"We should throw a party," Kai suggested one day.

"A party? Why?" Mira wondered.

"It's winter!"

"It's not actually time for the holidays yet," Mira pointed out.

"So?"

Mira thought about it for a second, then nodded. "Alright! Let's throw a party!"

Christina (who had been out shopping for clothes) came back to the house to find the floor of the living room completely covered in streamers, decorations and (oddly) cookbooks. "What's going on?" Christina asked, carefully stepping over pieces of tinsel and accidentally squashing a snowman decoration.

"We're throwing a party!" Kai exclaimed, the girl emerging from a pile of streamers, some of which had gotten stuck in her hair.

Mira nodded. "It's true," she said. She was digging through the decorations, throwing them into two piles seemingly at random.

"And the cookbooks?" Christina asked as she carefully placed her bags out of the way.

"So we can make winter treats!"

"Can I invite Kirtus?" Christina asked as she helped Kai sort out the streamers.

"I already sent out the invitations," Kai said. "E-vites! I already got replies too!"

"Really?" Kai handed over her phone with the message thread.

The first read, _You are all invited to Kai and Mira (and probably Christina)'s winter party! It will be sometime later, at some time, at Mira's house. Please come!_

There were several response, the first being from Kirtus who promised to come. The next was from Preston and it said, _Kai, this account is for work email. Don't send these kind of messages here!_

Kai's reply read, _Yeah, but are you coming_?

Preston's reply, _If you give me an actual date and time I may put in an appearance_.

Underneath Preston's message was a series of questions from Wolf. Christina read the first few (what food will be there? who's coming? can I wear a costume?) then skipped past the rest of Wolf's replies.

Below Wolf's questions was a reply from someone named River who said, _I live in Azalea. Obviously I'm not coming to your party._

Kai's response, _It would have been rude not to invite you_.

Wyvrn's message was last and the entire message consisted of a single angry face emoticon. Kai's response was, _See you there_! Which he replied to with a series of angry emoticons.

"So... Who's coming?" Christina asked.

"Wolf, Kirtus and Wyvrn. Preston may show up as well."

"Right." Christina replied, wondering how a series of angry faces equated to a yes from Wyvrn.

* * *

Kai turned on the music and Mira began dancing, her skills several times better than everyone else's. Preston stood in the corner looking official and no amount of begging got him to so much as bob in place (though he did so when no one was looking)

Wolf was the worst dancer, though his sheer enthusiasm almost made up for it. Almost, because he bumped into Mira at one point, who recovered gracefully, but Wolf kept going and grabbed onto a streamer for balance. The streamer snapped sending Wolf, and a bunch of decorations, crashing to the floor.

* * *

At some point, Kirtus must have come in because he was now fast asleep on the couch, Christina sat down next to his sleeping form.

"He really can sleep anywhere can't he?" Kai mused.

"Yep. If sleeping were a sport he'd be famous," Christina replied.

"Extreme sleeping?" Kai suggested. "Who can fall asleep fastest in the weirdest places?"

"I can," Kirtus interjected. "I would win." He smiled sleepily at the two girls, then put his head back down.

* * *

Kirtus woke later and began fiddling with the lights, changing the static white bulbs into color shifting lights which dyed the room different colors every so often.

Wolf came over to him and began asking him how he did so. The two spoke about the lights while the others shied away from the tech talk.

* * *

Wolf hung the mistletoe, giggling to himself all the while. He surreptitiously stood near it, until someone finally walked over. It was not who he was expecting. Wolf turned and ran.

Preston stood under the mistletoe and watched Wolf run off. "What's his problem?" He asked.

Kai (sitting on the sofa and safely away from the plant hanging on the ceiling) pointed up. Preston looked.

"Why would you hang that?" He wondered.

"I didn't, Wolf put it there."

"So you won't mind if I remove it."

"Not at all," Kai laughed.

"Kira's got it," Mira interrupted. The Kirlia glowed faintly as it used its power on the mistletoe, letting it fall gently down until Preston grabbed it and shredded it, tossing the remnants towards Wolf.

The boy was caught unawares and ended up with green foliage stuck in his white hair.

"I think that look suits him," Kai mused.

Mira giggled. "Put that down!" She ordered suddenly, pointed at Silvia who was dragging one of Mira's bags behind her.

Silvia put on her most innocent look and dropped the bag, sauntering back to Wolf's side.

* * *

Wyvrn stood stoically in the corner, glaring at anyone who approached him. Kai did so anyway. "You know this is a party right?" she asked. "You mingle, dance, eat, those sort of things."

"I have no interest in doing any of those," Wyvrn grumbled.

"Then go away," Kai sighed. "You're bringing everyone down." She pointed at Christina as proof, the girl who was glancing at Wyvrn nervously every so often. Kai pushed Wyvrn onto the dance floor and watched as he stood, unmoving, amongst the bouncing forms of Wolf, Mira and their Pokémon.

Wolf grabbed Wyvrn's hand and made him spin, confusing him. Eventually, Wolf was able to make the stoic man dance, though he was in reality dodging Wolf.

"I knew you could dance," Kai giggled when Wyvrn finally got away from Wolf. Wyvrn glared at her in response and went back to his corner.

* * *

Eventually the party wound to a close and it was just Kai, Mira, and Christina left. "That was a great party," Mira sighed.

"I've never been to a party like this before," Christina said. "It was fun."

"We should have another one sometime," Kai added. The three stared at their (well, Mira's) messy house, contented smiles on their faces.

* * *

**Starlight and Eclipse at Yunyi's house**

One morning, Starlight awoke to find Yunyi busy decorating. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"It's almost Winter Day," Yunyi said. "Devoir and I like to decorate the house."

"Can I help?"

Yunyi nodded and handed the older girl a string of lights which Starlight took with a smile. The two girls gleefully decorated the house and by the time Eclipse woke up the interior of the small cabin was covered in lights, streamers and decorations.

"Where did you get all this stuff?" Starlight wondered as the two gazed at their handiwork.

"Bought it."

"What happened to the house?" Eclipse asked, disgruntled.

"We decorated it!" Starlight exclaimed.

"Why?"

"Winter Day," Yunyi explained softly.

"Winter Day? Is it already? I hadn't realized," Eclipse murmured.

"I'm an orphan," Yunyi explained. "We never celebrated at the orphanage. Out here though, I thought Devoir and I could start celebrating it."

"Let's exchange gifts," Starlight suggested. "The three of us." She turned to include Eclipse in the conversation.

"No," he said.

"Yes," Starlight insisted. "None of us really know each other but we're here, and it's Winter Day so let's celebrate together!"

"Where would we even get gifts? We're in the middle of nowhere," Eclipse pointed out.

"There are things you don't need money for. So, what do you think?"

"I think it sounds fun," Yunyi said, eyes full of excitement.

Eclipse simply glared. "Two against one," Starlight told him. "We're doing it!"

"Idiotic," Eclipse muttered as he stomped out the door followed by Zoroark.

"Is he leaving?" Yunyi wondered.

"He needs me, he'll be back," Starlight assured.

* * *

Starlight found a group of pink flowers and carefully wove them into a small flower crown. Her little sisters loved stuff like this, and she figured Yunyi would as well. After she finished with the first one, she made another for Devoir. She thought the girl and her Kirlia would look cute with matching flower crowns on.

_Are you going to make one for Eclipse?_ Gardevoir suggested. _I think the flowers would go quite well with his friendly personality_.

Starlight stifled a laugh and shook her head. _We're still not entirely certain he's not crazy. Better not provoke him_.

_What are you going to give him then_?

Starlight shrugged. _You have any ideas_? She asked as she carefully placed the flower crowns in her bag.

_A rock_? Gardevoir suggested. _They're as friendly as he is, I think they'll get along_.

Starlight ignored the suggestion, but there really wasn't much else out here. With no better ideas, Starlight began another flower crown, this one out of purple flowers.

_He's going to love that, _Gardevoir said sarcastically.

_I know_.

* * *

Starlight returned to the house and sat in the living room with Yunyi, the two chatting away as they waited for the sun to go down. Eclipse showed up much later, covered in snow. He shook off in the entry way, getting water and snow everywhere.

"Eclipse," Starlight scolded. He simply glared at her and slumped onto the chair he'd slept in the first night.

"The sun has gone down," Yunyi said. "Time for presents?" Her excitement was truly adorable, though somewhat sad since Starlight knew the reason she was so excited was because she'd never really celebrated Winter Day before.

"Yeah, time for presents," Starlight replied with a grin. Starlight took out the flower crowns and gave the pink ones to Yunyi.

The little girl took them and marveled at the pretty color. "It's so pretty!" she gawked. She placed one on her head and the other on Devoir's. "How do they look?" She asked.

"You two are so cute!" Starlight squealed.

"Whatever," Eclipse mumbled. Starlight decided it was time to give him his present and pulled out the purple flower crown, dumping the thing on his head. He was a lot less of a downer with flowers in his hair. "What was that?" Eclipse demanded.

"You're pretty now," Yunyi giggled. Eclipse glared at Starlight who gazed back innocently.

"Did you get presents?" Starlight asked him.

Eclipse glared but put two rocks down on the table. They were pretty rocks, but still rocks. _I guess it's good I didn't get him a rock_, Starlight mused. Starlight took hers in her hands. It was a pale stone with silvery lines running through it like veins. "Thanks you," she said, though she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with it.

Yunyi looked at her own rock with awe. Hers was a small blue stone that was tinged with darker blue in some areas, giving it a sense of depth. "Pretty," the girl said, awed. She carefully placed the stone on the window sill as a decoration.

"Here," Yunyi handed both of them books. "These were in the cabin when I moved in," she explained.

"This isn't your cabin?" Starlight asked as she read the title. It was a book of spells related to psychic powers.

"The man who used to live here left many years ago," Yunyi said. "It was abandoned."

"This looks useful, thank you," Starlight said as she skimmed the pages.

Eclipse flipped through his own book. "Why this one?" He asked.

"I saw the symbol on your eyepatch in there," Yunyi replied.

"Really?" Eclipse wondered, suddenly much more interested. "Thank you," he mumbled absently.

Starlight put her book to the side for now and smiled at Yunyi. "So did you have a nice Winter Day?" She asked the girl.

"I did," Yunyi replied with an answering smile.

* * *

**River and Volke : Sweet and Sour**

River and Mist returned to River's mansion after a shopping trip to find a package sitting outside her door. River took it and brought it inside, thinking nothing of it until she checked the return address. Sky Mayfly.

_What do you think it is? More lemons_? River wondered, staring warily at the package.

_Just open it_, Mist said excitedly.

River did so, carefully unwrapping the package. It was a box of lemons.

_It's the thought that counts?_ Mist offered as River glared at the sour fruit.

_And her thought was that I'd hate them_. Mist shrugged her ghostly shoulders. _I suppose I have a Winter's Day gift for Volke now,_ River sighed.

_Think he got one for you? _

_I have no idea what goes on in that man's head_.

River left her mansion to find Volke lurking outside which had become a fairly normal occurrence. It wasn't actually as weird as it sounded, it's not like he was waiting for her or anything, someone had opened a new cafe right across from her manor which had become the new town hangout. It had replacing the old town hangout - which was nothing. There was no real old town hangout. River happened to like the cafe, they served all kinds of sweet things which River tended to indulge in.

Volke didn't seem like the type to hang out in these kind of places, but he did. Probably because there was nothing else to do in town. If nothing else he got to be mean to a bunch of people.

"Hi Volke," River greeted as she joined him at his table. The two had actually become friends, weirdly, and all because of Sky. If the assassin knew she'd probably laugh.

"River," he said. He still tended to be closed off and concise, but he was always friendly to her now.

"Got you more lemons," River said, placing the box in front of him.

Volke's normally stoic expression morphed suddenly into joy as he opened the box. "Thank you!" He said, eyes glittering with appreciation. River had gotten in the habit of giving him sour things solely to see his reaction. It was hilarious every time. He immediately began eating one of the lemons, River flinching slightly at the thought of the sour taste.

After finishing off the lemon he turned his attention back to her. "Wait here," he commanded, then got up leaving River with Volt.

River and Volt stared at each other, the Rotom grinning mischievously at her. "Here," Volke said, placing a bag in front of River effectively breaking up the staring contest.

River looked curiously at the bag, then opened it. Inside the bag was an assortment of candies and chocolates. River's mouth watered at the sight. "Thank you," she said whole heartedly. "These look delicious!"

Volke shrugged. "It's a return gift. For Winter Day."

River grinned at him. What she didn't know, was that the chocolates had been a gift from one of his neighbors. The swapping of sweet and sour became a theme in the relationship between the two of them. One that both found rather rewarding.

* * *

**Gina : A Very Magical Winter's Day (This is really short, sorry Gina)**

Winter's day at the Mage's Guild was always a wonderful sight to behold. This was only Gina's second one there, but she'd heard stories and seen images of past ones and they blew her away. Last year, the entire guild had been decorated in dancing magical lights that would flit around you when you approached. The kids at the guild had had a marvelous time playing with the little orbs.

The guild had an unwritten rule though, they never did the same thing twice. This year the walls themselves had been colored into giant murals of Articuno, Kyurem and other Ice Pokémon that represented the day. When someone stopped to admire one of the Pokémon, it would start to move, becoming a living drawing. It was incredible.

Gina herself hadn't had anything to do with the spell that made them move, she was far too inexperienced for that, she did help with the original colors though. Everyone had.

The best part of the decorating wasn't the end result, it was the fun everyone had beautifying the guild together. After Winter Day, the walls would go back to being blank, but everyone would remember this Winter Day. Gina certainly would.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**The Nami future part is probably going to work with how the story ends, but I change my mind a lot as I write, so it may end up being slightly AU.**


	15. Meetings

**Author Note:**

**Happy Belated New Year Everyone!**

**IMPORTANT NOTE: I will update as normal next week, but I'm moving soon and so I will be busier. I can either post slower or make shorter chapters, whatever people seem to want more. **

**I've put a poll up, so please vote if you have a preference! **

**I know nothing about bombs or hacking, so please excuse the pseudoscience.**

* * *

Chapter 12: Meetings

* * *

Sky and Lucinda walked through the assorted wooden buildings and masses of people that made up the city-town around Lumiose as they walked to the gates of the city. There was a mob of people around the gates, as there always was, but the two women were able to pass them by flashing their ID cards. They were fake of course, neither one of them was from the city, but they were very good fakes. Sky had never had any issues getting into the city. It always amused Sky how secure they thought their city was, when they'd just let a pair of assassins in.

"So, to the Guardian Force building?" Sky suggested as they walked around the Upper Level.

"It would be easier to catch him at home," Lucinda pointed out.

"Less fun though."

Lucinda sighed. "Fine, to the Guardian Force building."

* * *

Preston walked into his boss's office. "Sena," he greeted.

"Preston," Sena greeted him. "I have an assignment for you."

"There are still only two people in my division," Preston reminded her.

"Not for your division," Sena corrected. "For you."

"What is it?"

"I want you to go to the Mage's Guild."

"What? Why?" Preston asked, shock overcoming his respect for a second.

"They sent us a letter that concerns me." Sena picked up a piece of paper from her desk and handed it to him. "They speak of a group known as Nature's Guardians and how they believe that they are going to be a threat to the cities. I think they're the ones behind the bomb. What has your investigation turned up?"

Preston had never told Sena about what his people were looking into, but he wasn't surprised she knew. She was extremely observant and one of the smartest people he'd ever met, which was probably why she'd been chosen to lead the Guardian Force. "Nothing conclusive yet," Preston replied. "But I believe that it was them."

"You don't tend to be wrong. If they are going to come at us and are as much of a threat as the Mages seem to think, then I'd rather have the magic on our side than on Nature's Guardians."

"Same here," Preston agreed. "But magic isn't legal, are we even allowed to speak with them?"

"We can send people to talk with them and any representatives they send here can stay in the city-town. While you're gone I'm hoping to convince the president to talk more with the Mages and at the very least lessen the sentence on practicing Mages."

Preston nodded. "Do you need me to leave now?"

"As soon as possible," Sena agreed.

Preston stood, but before he left he asked, "Why me?"

"You're married to a witch aren't you? I figured you'd be the best choice."

Preston felt cold. "She isn't a witch," he refuted automatically. If people knew, Scarlet would never be able to come back.

"I'm not going to tell on her," Sena scoffed. "Her secret's safe with me."

"Thank you," Preston said for lack of anything better to say. He saluted once, then left. He'd send notice to Wolf, Kai and Wyvrn that they were on their own for a while then set out. This was too important to wait.

Preston left Sena's office on the top floor and took the elevator back down. He walked into his office and headed for his desk where his phone was, but before he could reach it, the lights went out. He stopped. The lights couldn't have gone out on their own, if it was a power problem the lights on the whole floor would be out and he could see light coming in through the small window in the door.

He let one hand fall to his belt where his Poké Balls were and lamented the fact that his gun was over by his desk. He usually brought it with him, but weapons weren't allowed in the boss's office. "Who's there?" He asked, ensuring his voice was full of confidence.

"That would be me," said a girl's voice from somewhere behind him. He whirled and grasped for his Charizard's Poké Ball, but the sight of the girl stayed his hand. She was short and clearly very young, but that isn't what stopped him. The knife in her hand aimed directly at his heart was.

She grinned at him and a Scyther loomed behind her, flexing its blade arms menacingly. "We're not here to hurt you Guardian man," she assured. Preston's hand remained on the Poké Ball. She shrugged. "Suit yourself. Hey Red, you have the letter?"

"Here." This came from a different woman, the voice deeper and more mature. Preston hesitated to turn his back on the little girl, but he needed to see the newcomer. He turned only halfway, giving himself a side view of the new woman. She was standing behind his desk holding a folded piece of paper. "This is for you," she said. She rounded his desk and held the paper out to him. Preston stared at it suspiciously and glanced at the small girl again. She gestured at the paper with her knife and Preston slowly took it.

The paper was addressed to him and his breath caught in his throat. It was Scarlet's handwriting. He quickly unfolded the rest and began to read.

_Preston:_

_I miss you, but that's not the point of this letter. I'm keeping this with me always in case the chance comes for me to send this to you. I hope this can help you and this will all be over soon. Then we can be together again. _

_Enough about that though, here's what I've found out. Sorry if this list makes little sense, I've been adding to it sporadically. _

_It took me a while to find a town with a representative, so I don't have as much information as I'd like. But here goes. _

_Here's what I've found:_

_The entire base is in the sky. (Which is why it took me so long to get in) I don't know where exactly it is, I can't see the ground from up here. _

_There is a building I can't go into, I'm going to, but as of this I haven't. _

_Some of the people go to see the leader, and they come back different. They no longer seem to have emotions. I don't know how he's doing it yet. _

_They've been going to a lot of towns recruiting people. They seem to want everyone to know who they are. They don't seem to care when no one goes with them, they just want people to know who they are. _

_No one can leave. If you try, you get brainwashed, or whatever it is he's doing to people. _

_I've met several people who seem like they don't really want to be there, this may be useful. _

_I've never met Razan before. Never even heard of him, whoever he is, he wasn't leader when my parent were members. Wasn't even important. This place isn't similar at all. It uses the same name, but I think Razan has completely remade it. I'm not sure why or what his goal is. But I know it isn't good. _

_I haven't recognized anyone from my parent's time, even the older people here have recently joined. _

_They have a lot of potatoes. I'm sure this is important somehow. The amounts of potatoes is horrifying, I can't imagine eating all of those so they must have some ulterior motive. (_Preston snickered at this one_)_

She had several more lists, one of which was a list of names of the members she'd met. Preston made a note for send it to Kai to look into the members. Scarlet had also included a poster with names and pictures of the heads of the organization on it. The poster looked as if it had been ripped straight off the wall.

"Were you on the base? Do you know where it is?" Preston asked. "All she knows is that it floats."

"That's all we know too," the little girl replied. "It moves."

"As we were leaving I looked back and it had already gone," Red agreed.

"It's a mobile floating base!" the girl announced.

"So you'd have to scan the whole sky to find it," Preston assumed.

"Or get invited up like we did," the girl replied. "I doubt you're getting an invite anytime soon though."

"Why did they invite you up?"

"They offered me a job. I turned it down though."

"What was the job?"

"An assassin never tells."

Preston sighed. "Do you two have names? Or is her's really Red?"

"I'm Lucinda," the woman replied. "You're friend promised us more money upon letter delivery." Lucinda held out her hand expectantly.

Preston slowly reached for his wallet and handed Lucinda several twenty dollar bills.

"My name's Sky Mayfly," the small girl said, snatching a few of the bills out of his hand. "Feared assassin! So remember my name!"

"...Okay," Preston replied, a bit confused. "Shouldn't you want people _not_ to know who you are?"

"That's for _bad_ assassins," Sky scoffed. "One as amazing as me can be well-known and still manage to catch people completely by surprise."

There was a knock on the door, then the locked door handle jiggled. "Everything alright in there?" called a male voice. "The lights are out."

Preston glanced at the door when the voice sounded and when he turned back to the assassins, they were gone. "Yeah," he said. "Everything's fine." He clicked the lights back on and unlocked the door.

He collected his phone to send a message to his team, but he still had to go to the Mage's Guild. After sending out the messages, Preston gathered his things and left, headed for the transporters. He'd take one to Goldenrod, then fly the rest of the way to the Guild on his Charizard. Hopefully, the whole trip would only take a few days then he could get back to fighting Nature's Guardians.

* * *

Wyvrn and Kadabra walked to the teleport pad. There were four teleport chambers, one at each Cardinal direction of the city. Because of the bomb at the East plant, that one was currently down. Wyvrn headed for the north one instead. The teleport chambers were all on the upper level, though they were free and open for anyone to use. The cities actually encouraged people to use them as they let people from different areas mingle which led to a sharing of ideas.

The transporters were housed in a single story building which Wyvrn walking into. The building was simply a hallway with several rooms splitting off from it. Each room was in fact a transporter. Wyvrn approached one of the rooms and held his ID over the scanner. It flashed green and the door opened.

The inside of the room was blank white with a glowing screen on the back wall. The screen had a rough map of all the Republic with the names of the cities glowing blue. Lumiose was grayed out currently, as that was where Wyvrn currently was. Wyvrn touched Celadon city on the map and the room was filled with white light. When the light subsided, Lumiose now appeared blue and Celadon City's label was gray. Wyvrn and Kadbra walked out of the room and left the building.

_Celadon_, he mused to Kadabra.

_It's a lot like Lumiose_, Kadabra observed as they walked out onto the busy street.

Cars rushed past as the man and his Pokémon ambled along the sidewalk. _The profile said that Xanatos is homeless. If this city's like Lumiose, that means he should spend most his time on the lower level_.

_So to the lower level we go_? Wyvrn didn't dignify that question with a response. The two reached the cross level elevator and took it down. So far, nothing had been all that different from Lumiose, just smaller. Celadon was clearly a newer city and less developed than Lumiose was. The streets and the skyline were both less crowded than Wyvrn was used to.

The lower level looked about the same as the one in Lumiose, though it was brighter than the eastern area of Lumiose since the power had gone down.

_Where do we even start looking for this guy_? Kadabra asked as the two walked out of the elevator and looked around. The city was smaller than Lumiose certainly, but it was still large. Searching aimlessly would be fruitless.

_We could interrogate someone_, Wyvrn suggested.

_You're trying to be less intense and violent remember? We could try asking someone in a normal tone of voice instead_.

Wyvrn grumbled, but agreed. He really didn't want to go back to prison. "Excuse me," he said to the next person he saw. It was an elderly woman with greying hair.

"Yes?" She replied.

"I'm looking for Christopher Xanatos. Do you know where I might find him?"

"What did you say?" The woman asked, clearly hard of hearing.

Wyvrn felt a twitch of annoyance, exacerbated by Kadabra cautioning him to be nice. "Do you know where Christopher Xanatos is?" Wyvrn repeated more loudly.

"What?"

Wyvrn was about to do something regretful when another voice joined in the conversation. "Why are you looking for me?"

Wyvrn turned to the speaker and found the picture from the profile staring back at him quizzically. Christopher had long, scraggly black hair that was in clear need of a cut and patchy stubble adorned his chin. He wore a trench coat that had been patched up so many times, it was more patch than coat. Underneath the coat was a sleeveless white tank top and ripped black jeans. If the rips were artful or from wear, Wyvrn couldn't say.

"You're Christopher Xanatos?" Wyvrn confirmed as the elderly woman slipped away, making a rude gesture at his back.

"That's me," Christopher replied with a smirk. "Who's asking?"

"I'm Wyvrn with the Guardian Force."

"Wyvrn. Weird name. What's the Guardian Force want?"

"They've been trying to get in contact with you."

"I lost my phone," Christopher said with a shrug.

"You didn't get a new one?"

"Does it look like I can afford one?"

"Since you clearly never spend money on clothes or haircuts I assumed you had some money saved up."

"I'm homeless," Christopher said deadpan. "If I did have money I'd buy a house."

"Then what do you use your money on?" Wyvrn wondered. "I know you get paid."

"Food mostly," Christopher said with a shrug. A Sneasel lurked behind him and at Wyvrn's glance he said, "That's Vieara."

"I know," Wyvrn said.

"Not a talkative guy are you?"

"I just don't have anything to say to vagabonds like you."

"You think you're really great with all you're big words don't you?"

"A sophisticated vocabulary is the sign of an intellectual."

"Or an arrogant man," Christopher retorted.

Wyvrn's punch was stalled by Kadabra and he forcibly calmed himself. "Since you are alive and well, my job is finished." Wyvrn turned to leave, but was stopped by the other man's voice.

"Wait. I do have something to report."

"What is it?" Wyvrn asked when the man didn't continue.

"I don't want to tell you. I'll tell Preston." Wyvrn held out his phone. "In person."

Wyvrn weighed the consequences and decided that whatever annoyance Preston would have at bringing the homeless man in was worth not having to argue right now. "Fine," Wyvrn shrugged. "Come on."

Christopher was clearly surprised at the quick acquiescence and rushed to catch up.

* * *

Kai sat at the same terminal she had the day before, continuing her hack. She couldn't believe the utter boredom of the plant job, she'd thought the bar job to be an easy one, but it was exponentially harder than what she was tasked with now. Luckily, the complete lack of skill necessary allowed her to continue doing what actually interested her - hacking. She was still trying to track down Virus, but was having difficulties. Whoever this Virus was, they were very good at covering their tracks.

What was easier to find, however, was where the drawings had been sent. Unfortunately, the address was a hotel, so it was unlikely there would be much evidence left there at all. Still worth a look though.

She sent the address to Preston.

She received a response very quickly. _I'm sending Wyvrn to check it out. I'll be away for a few days, keep guarding the plant while I'm gone. And don't let Wyvrn give anyone any orders._

Like Kai would listen to Wyvrn. Seriously. Though, she supposed Kirtus and Christina could be fairly easily ordered around by the scary man, so she'd have to keep an eye on them.

Preston had also attached a list of people who were members of Nature's Guardians. Kai opened a new window on her terminal to start investigating the members.

"Find anything interesting?" Christina asked as she dropped a slightly soggy sandwich in front of Kai.

"Not really," Kai replied. "Wyvrn is going out to look at something, but I doubt he'll find anything worthwhile."

"I haven't seen anyone suspicious."

"Neither have I," Kai said after a slight pause. Truthfully, she'd gotten so absorbed in tracking the data transfer that she completely forgot to be watching for suspicious people. She reminded herself to keep an eye out while she dug for information about the people on the list.

"You think they're headed for Kirtus's first?" Christina asked, a worried look on her face.

"Maybe," Kai admitted. "But don't worry, Wolf is with him! And he may seem immature and incompetent, but he knows how to fight!"

"I think that was more insulting than complementary," Christina pointed out. Kai shrugged, an innocent look on her face. "I need to finish my deliveries."

"See you later. Stay safe," Kai said.

"You too."

* * *

Wolf sat staring blankly at his screen. "This is boring," he announced.

"You could try sleeping," Kirtus suggested. The perpetually sleepy boy was, for once, not sleeping. He was instead fiddling with some spare parts he'd found.

"I'm supposed to be keeping watch. What are you making anyway?"

"Nothing in particular. I'm just tinkering."

"Right..." Wolf said, confused by the vague answer. He resigned himself to continued boredom.

* * *

Silvia had tired quickly of sitting in the bag and had slipped out. Wolf knew this of course, it was hard to hide things from someone you were psychically connected to, and had cautioned her to be careful. Silvia had scoffed at this. She didn't need to be careful, she was awesome. Awesome Pokémon like her simply acted on instinct. Care was for those unable to slither their way out of all situations.

_A bit full of yourself there aren't you?_ Wolf commented idly as he picked up on her train of thought.

_Nope, I know exactly how awesome I am,_ Silvia replied.

_Well I can't argue with that,_ Wolf laughed.

Silvia snuck around the plant, occasionally sniffing the air to see if there were any unusual scents. The whole place was rather unfamiliar to her, so she wasn't having much luck. She was having to draw on Wolf's literacy skills to read the signs just to find out where she even was.

She was headed back to Wolf when she finally heard something worthwhile.

"Who are you?" A male voice demanded. Silvia quickly drew Wolf's attention to the scene as she snuck up on the speaker. There was a man standing near a woman who knelt on the floor.

"Hail nature," the woman said. She was standing in front of a bomb. Wolf and and Kirtus were on their way, but they wouldn't get here in time. Silvia was here now. She leapt at the woman.

The woman flailed and fell, away from the bomb thankfully. She grabbed Silvia's front legs and tried to throw her off, but Silvia sunk her teeth into the fabric of the woman's shirt, keeping the Sylveon firmly attached to the human.

"Silvia!" Wolf yelled as he and Kirtus arrived. Kirtus immediately went to the bomb, taking the position the woman had earlier. Wolf ran at the woman and Silvia, helping his partner restrain the bomber.

"It hasn't been set yet," Kirtus said. "I can dismantle it."

"What's happening?" asked the man who had questioned the woman. He looked and sounded confused, not that Silvia could really blame him.

"We just stopped a bomber," Wolf told him.

Kirtus was carefully taking parts of the bomb and putting them in a bag.

"A bomber?" The worker repeated.

"Yep," Wolf agreed. "Just go back to work, we've got this." The worker nodded mechanically and walked away unsteadily. Wolf turned to the woman Silvia was still sitting on. "We need to take her back to headquarters."

"You haven't stopped us!" The woman exclaimed. "Altair won't give up!"

"Altair?" Wolf repeated. "Is that a name?"

The woman just glared, apparently having said all she was going to say. Wolf shrugged and pulled the woman up, smoothly cuffing her hands behind her back as he did so. "Preston will get more out of you."

Wolf and Silvia began to leave, but Kirtus hesitated. "Something wrong?" Wolf asked.

"Maybe I should stay here. In case she isn't bluffing."

Wolf nodded. "That's a good idea. I'll text you when I find out more." Kirtus nodded and Wolf turned and left, herding the would-be bomber ahead of him.

* * *

Wyvrn and Christopher walked into the office to find it empty. Kai and Wolf were in assignment, but Wyvrn was expecting Preston to be there.

"There's no one here," Christopher pointed out.

"Do you think I'm blind?" Wyvrn demanded. "I obviously know that!"

"Just an observation," Christopher noted. Wyvrn ignored the other man in favor of examining Preston's desk. He found a note there which he read.

_Wyvrn - if you're reading this, you haven't checked your messages_.

Preston was right, Wyvrn hadn't checked his messages. He had a new one from Preston. It told him that Preston was going to be out and had the address of a hotel attached. It said that he should investigate the hotel once he finished checking on Christopher.

"My boss isn't here," Wyvrn told Christopher. "There are other people you can talk to though."

"Where's your boss?"

"Out."

"Out where?"

"Away from here." The two glared at each other. "I have an assignment," Wyvrn said, breaking the silence.

"I'll go with you," Christopher announced.

"No you won't."

"Yes I will. You can't stop me."

Wyvrn very much wanted to prove how very capable he was of stopping the homeless man, but remembrance of Preston's words stayed his fists. Getting into fights would not prove his worth. "Do whatever you want," Wyvrn finally said, brushing past Christopher and leaving the room. Christopher followed.

* * *

"Well, we delivered the message, what now?" Sky asked as she and Lucinda loitered in the park in Lumiose City.

Lucinda shrugged. "Find another job?" She suggested.

"Maybe River's got something for us," Sky said with a shrug.

"Let's go see her then." The two vanished from the city, no one but Preston the wiser that they'd even been there.

* * *

A woman leaned against a building, glaring at the power plant. "It should've blown by now." Her dark violet eyes were intense, though only the right was visible, the other covered by her short black hair. Silver highlights ran through it, giving her hair a strange glow in the low light of the lower level. Her arms were folded over her chest as she glared, covering the red t-shirt she wore. She wore dark washed jeans that trailed into black combat boots. Two belts twined around her waist, both leaning to the right. The top one held Poké Balls, while the lower one was burdened with daggers and pouches.

"Maybe Saria was captured," suggested the man who stood next to her. His presence was completely overshadowed by the woman's, despite being taller than her. He was dressed all in black and also had a few knives on his person, but his brown eyes fell short of the intensity of his companions.

"Or maybe she's just incompetent."

"Saria tried her hardest Altair," the man chastised. Altair's eyes left the plant to glare at him and he quailed. "Never mind," he said. He ducked his head, soft brown hair hiding his features as he tried to avoid bothering the woman.

"Talon, look there," Altair commanded. The man, Talon, raised his head and looked. There was a white haired male dragging a woman behind him. It was Saria. "It appears the Guardian Force knows our plan or will soon."

Altair turned and began walking. "Are we going to save Saria?" Talon asked as he followed.

"She was expendable," Altair replied. "That's why she was sent in the first place. We're going to continue with plan B." Talon thought, and not for the first time, that maybe he'd chosen the wrong side in all of this.

* * *

_Wolf Answers Questions_:

_Transporters_

"Have you ever been in a transporter?" Christina asked.

"Yep," Wolf replied. "Lots of times."

"What's it like?"

Wolf shrugged. "You don't really feel anything. You just walk in a room, press a button and when you leave you're somewhere else."

"That sounds really cool," Christian mused.

"The technology is based on the Teleport move Pokémon can use," Kai informed. "It's a bit different though. Pokémon can go anywhere they want within a set distance while our ones can only go from one transporter to another, though the two transporters can be extremely far away."

"Why can't ours take you anywhere? Are they still working on that?" Christina wondered.

"I don't think so," Kai replied. "It was decided it was probably for the best we couldn't go anywhere. They didn't want any kids running inside, hitting a button and getting lost in the Outerlands. They can still get pretty lost the way it is now, but we can track them down fairly easily as long as they're in a city."

"Criminals too," Wolf added. "If they could get to a transporter before they're locked out of the system we'd never catch them. They can still run out the gates of course, but at least they're close to the city when we're looking for them."

"Those are good reasons," Christina mused.


	16. Surprising Encounters

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys! **

**Thanks for voting! More people voted for shorter updates so I'm basically just going to post whatever I've managed to write on Saturdays for now until my life settles down again and I can write full-length chapters.**

**Please read the note at the end and ****I hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

* * *

Chapter 13: Surprising Encounters

* * *

Oval stone acquired, Nami and her friends returned to the Mage's Guild so that the spell to coats Blake could finally be performed. They got back to the guild fairly quickly and Gina brought Nami back to Geo's office. Zyra and Nevin went into the library to read more magic books while Pecha and Zap went outside to look around the town.

Nami steeled herself before opening the door to Geo's office. This could be it, this could be the day she finds her brother. She took in a deep breath, then pushed the door open. Geo was at the back of the room fiddling with something, but turned when she entered.

"You're back, did you get the stone?" Geo asked. Nami produced the stone and held it out to him in response. "Excellent." Geo gently took the stone from her and placed it on the table in front of him. He gathered a few other things from around the room and placed them with the stone. "Is there something of yours I can borrow?" He asked. "You'll get it back completely unharmed."

Nami nodded and unclasped the necklace she was wearing, handing the dangling ice gem to the mage.

Geo placed the necklace on top of the stone and began speaking. Evidentially, this spell was more involved than whatever spells Nami had seen Gina or Nevin use, as Geo spoke a lot more than a single word. Eventually, a sphere of light appeared above the stone and glowed. A large red spot appeared upon it and Nami glanced at it curiously.

"This is odd," Geo mused. "I only see you."

"What's supposed to happen?" Nami asked.

"The spell is supposed to show you and your blood relatives, each represented as dot. This is only showing you."

"What does that mean?"

"He's either in the same place as you or..."

"Or what?"

"Or he's dead."

"Thanks for trying anyway," Nami said politely. She refused to think Blake was dead, she knew he couldn't be here either, that didn't make any sense. The spell just didn't work for some reason. Something interfered, that was all. The globe of light disappeared and her necklace was returned. Nami returned the necklace to its rightful place around her neck and sadly thanked the old man again. This wouldn't make her give up. He wasn't dead. He wasn't.

* * *

Pecha sat outside the Mage's Guild staring at the sky. She hadn't felt like going back to the library, she loved knowledge, but she wasn't all that interested in spells. Two men exited the Mage's Guild and walked past her. Pecha watched them idly. _Does that guy look familiar to you_? Pecha wondered as she stared at one of them.

_A bit_, Zap agreed. _Who do you think it is_?

Pecha watched him walk away when it suddenly hit her. "Blake Salem?" She said aloud, getting to her feet. The man turned and looked at her confused.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Ignore the locals," suggested the man Blake was following. Blake nodded and turned away.

"Wait!" Pecha cried. She couldn't let Nami's brother get away, not now. "I know Nami!" She continued when the boy didn't stop. That froze him.

"Nami?" He whispered. Pecha hurried along the road to catch up with him.

"Yes, and she's here. She's been looking for you!"

"She's _here_?" Blake repeated.

"Inside!"

"We don't have time for this," the other man growled, turning in Pecha. "Go away little girl."

"No," Pecha snapped back. Zap moved to stand in front of her protectively. "You have to come with me," she said to Blake.

He looked tempted, but finally turned away. "I can't," he said sadly.

Pecha wasn't about to let him get away, not now. _Zap_, she began.

_On it_, the Luxray finished. Sparks jumped across the Luxray's form, then were launched towards the man. Blake was caught unawares and was hit, his body freezing and falling to the ground, paralyzed by the Luxray's Thunder Wave attack. His Houndoom growled and whirled on Pecha. "We're doing this for him," she told it. "He wants to see Nami. You must know that." The Houndoom continued to glare at her, but what she said actually seemed to work as if assumed a protective position rather than attacking.

"You!" yelled the other man. He sent out a Pokémon of his own, a Rhydon.

The Rhydon ran at Zap who dodged out of the way. Then it headed for Pecha. Pecha quickly dove out of the way, landing hard on her stomach and quickly flipping over to get a look at the fight. Zap tackled the Pokémon, unable to use her lighting powers against the Ground-type. The Rhydon shook off the tackle and used its head to knock Zap out of the way. With Zap momentarily out of the way, the Rhydon ran at Pecha again.

Pecha tried to roll out of the way, but she knew she wouldn't get far enough away. There was a loud crash, but Pecha never felt an impact. She stopped rolling and looked up. A Charizard had body slammed the Rhydon, knocking it off course and sending to the ground. The Charizard roared, then sent an intense gush of fire at the Rhydon, knocking it out. A gray haired man stood nearby, watching the scene impassively.

"No!" Screamed the man who was with Blake. "Rhydon!" He returned the Rhydon and reached for another Poké Ball. The gray-haired man lifted his left had, showing off a glittering stone. The stone flashed, and the Charizard glowed as well, reforming into Mega-Charizard.

"Mega Evolution," Pecha whispered awed.

The other man took in the newly Mega Evolved Charizard, then ran away. After watching the man send out a flying Pokémon and fly away, the gray-haired man returned his Charizard.

"Are you alright?" He asked Pecha, extending a hand. Pecha took it dazedly.

"Yes," she said. "Thank you."

"Are you with the Mage's Guild?" He asked.

Pecha shook her head. "No, I'm just visiting." Suddenly she remembered Blake. "Oh!" She exclaimed, running over to the paralyzed man. _Do we have any Cheri Berries_? Pecha wondered.

_Zyra might_, Zap replied. The Lightning Pokémon had gotten back to her feet and went to Pecha's side.

"Is he okay?" the newcomer asked.

"He's paralyzed," Pecha replied. "He'll be fine though."

"Why were those men attacking you?"

"Uh...well I attacked them first," Pecha admitted. "Just him! I couldn't let him leave."

"And who are you?"

"My name's Pecha. This is Blake Salem," Pecha introduced.

"Blake Salem," Preston repeated, as if the name meant something to him. "I'm Preston Rolfe it's the Guardian Force."

"The _Guardian Force_? Am I under arrest?" Pecha asked, slightly panicked.

"No, we don't really handle cases out here. You're fine I am interested in talking to him though."

"Do you have any Cheri Berries? Otherwise we have to wait for him to wake up on his own."

Preston walked to Blake's side and produced a vial, similar to the medicine Nami had made Zyra use after fighting the raiders. He poured a drop on Blake's tongue and the boy's body jerked, then relaxed. He slowly sat up, dazed.

"Are you okay?" Pecha asked nervously, leaning towards his seated form. It would really be the worst if she'd found Nami's brother only to brake him somehow.

"My head hurts, other than that I'm fine. You said Nami's here?" Blake asked.

"She is!" Pecha exclaimed, straightening up. "Shes in there!" She pointed at the tall spires of the Mage's Guild.

"Wait," Preston said after Blake stood. "I need to know if you were a part of Nature's Guardian's."

"I was," Blake began. His explanation was interrupted by the arrival of the others.

* * *

Nami returned to the library. "Did you find him?" Zyra asked, her head shooting up as the other girl entered.

"No," Nami sighed. "It didn't work."

"It didn't work?" Gina repeated. "I'm so sorry." Nami just shook her head sadly.

"We should go tell Pecha," Zyra suggested.

"Sorry Nami," Nevin said, his face blank instead of his usual smile. It was the closest the boy ever got to a frown.

"I'll still find him," Nami said determinedly.

"Isn't it possible you won't?" Zyra suggested gently. "He could be..."

"He's alive," Nami declared. "He has to be." Nami turned away and left the library, Yuki trailing nervously after.

Zyra and Nevin quickly followed suit, both awkwardly staying out of Nami's way. They emerged outside to a strange scene. Pecha was speaking with two men and was covered in dirt as if she'd rolled around on the ground.

"Pecha, are you okay?" Nevin asked as they walked over. All three heads turned and Zyra looked at the younger man in shock. _Is that? _

_It is, _Darkfire affirmed.

"Blake!" Nami cried, running at the man. Blake, in turn, had a surprised look on his face.

"Nami," he whispered. Nami crashing into him, hugging her brother. He returned the embrace. Zyra and Nevin came to stand beside Pecha.

"You found Blake?" Zyra asked.

"He was here," Pecha explained. "I saw him walking out, but he was with this other guy and Blake didn't want to stay so I had Zap paralyze him. Then the other guy got really mad and attacked me with a Rhydon. Preston here helped me out."

"Preston?" Zyra repeated. "That's a stupid name."

"What's your name?" Preston asked, not appearing particularly offended.

"Zyra."

"And you?" This was directed at Nevin.

"I'm Nevin," the cheerful boy replied.

By this point Blake and Nami had stopped hugging. "Why did you leave?" Nami demanded.

"I'd like to know that as well," Preston added.

"Is there anywhere else we can talk?" Blake asked. "Were exposed out here." He glanced around somewhat nervously. Zyra looked around as well, but the area seemed empty to her.

_He's paranoid_, Darkfire surmised.

"There was a cafe just down the road," Pecha replied.

"That will do," Blake said. The group made their way down the street, Nami clearly bursting with the need for answers. Zyra wanted to know as well, but she was more bothered by Preston than anything else. Something about him really bugged her.

* * *

The group sat down in a quiet corner of the cafe and Nami looked expectantly at Blake.

"I'm sorry for leaving," Blake said.

"Just tell me _why_," Nami begged. "I've spent all these years not knowing..."

"One day I was approached by a man. He told me he was with a group called Nature's Guardians and that he wanted me to leave city. I thought he was just a crazy person so I told him no, but he wasn't crazy. They told me that if I stayed in the city, they'd kill you. I didn't believe them at first, but then they told me your schedule and where you were at that moment. That made me believe them. I couldn't let them kill you, so I left."

"I understand," Nami said quietly after digesting the information. "But you should have told me. We get through things together. It's what we've always done. Well, until that."

"I couldn't risk you. And you're in danger now, I'm not there so they'll come after you."

"Let them come," Zyra scoffed. "If anyone tries to kill any of you I'll beat them up!"

"Thanks Zyra," Nami said. "But I don't need protection from anyone anymore. I can defend myself.

"These aren't people to be taken lightly," Blake reprimanded, though the small smile on his face betrayed his hope that things could get better.

"They threatened you to leave the city," Preston interrupted. "Why did you join their organization?"

"After I refused the first couple times, they changed the demand from simply leaving, to joining them. So I did."

"I'd like you to come with me," Preston said.

"No!" Nami protested. "I just found him!"

"You can come as well. We would be going to Lumiose."

"Who are you anyway?" Nami demanded.

"He's Preston, a member of the Guardian Force," Pecha explained.

"I'm trying to take down Nature's Guardians and I believe Blake could help," Preston added.

"You want to take them down?" Blake asked. Preston nodded. "Then I'll go with you. I won't be able to relax until they're gone anyway."

"Well I'm coming too," Nami announced. "We're not splitting up again."

"You're leaving?" Nevin said sadly. "I'll miss you." There was a moment of silence as the group looked sadly at the table, Preston observing.

"I'd like to come too," Pecha said finally.

"To Lumiose?" Nami clarified.

"Yes."

"Then I want to go too!" Nevin said, fidgeting excitedly in his chair. "We could all go and keep traveling together!" He looked hopefully at Zyra who hadn't voiced an opinion yet.

"Can they come?" Nami asked Preston.

"They can, but unless they have city IDs they will have to spend the nights outside the city walls," Preston replied.

"I don't want to come," Zyra said finally. "Cities are gross and ugly."

"You don't have to," Nami said. "None of you do."

"I actually have my own reasons for wanting to come," Pecha admitted. "But if I can help you at all I'd like to."

"Your own reasons?" Zyra repeated. "What reason could you have for wanting to go into a city?"

"They're not as bad as you think they are," Nami scolded softly.

"I think they are," Zyra said.

"There's only one way to find out for sure," Nevin pointed out. "Come with us!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Lumiose is near a forest," Nami added. "You could sleep in a tree."

"...Really?" Nami nodded. "Fine then, I'll come."

"So we're all going to Lumiose!" Nevin exclaimed, jumping completely out of his chair in excitement. The chair fell backwards, but Typhlosion caught it. "Lumiose, here we come!"

* * *

Preston took in the group of kids at the table. The sister was easy enough to understand, she wanted to be with her family. The others were a bit harder. The black haired one, Zyra, she clearly hated the cities, but decided to come anyway. Why? They found the brother, was it truly to be with her friends? Without more information about her past, her motives would remain murky. Something about Pecha bothered Preston as well. Her name seemed familiar, but Preston had no idea why he would know the name of a girl living in the Outerlands. Though he did know Nami's, perhaps the girl was on the list. He'd have to look her up once they'd reached the city. Nevin was a non-issue. Plus there was the fact the girl had admitted to having some personal reason for coming, one which she hadn't shared. Of all of them the only one that didn't concern him at all was Nevin. He exuded such obviously genuine innocence that Preston was actually completely convinced of the boy's sincerity, something which usually took much longer.

Preston left the group at the cafe having agreed to meet them back there tomorrow morning to begin the trip to Lumiose. Preston had yet to speak with the archmage and so he returned to the guild.

He walked inside and spoke to the receptionist. "Hello, I'm Preston Rolfe from the Guardian Force," he told the bored looking girl.

She glared at him, for disrupting her reading he assumed, then pressed a rune on her desk. Preston was less afraid of magic than most city dwellers, but it still made him a bit uneasy. Scarlet used primarily healing magic, so other types of magic were still mostly unfamiliar to Preston.

After a short wait, a different girl entered the room and greeted him. "Hello," she said. "I'm Gina. Come this way please. Preston followed the girl down the winding hallways to an ornate door. "The archmage is inside," Gina informed.

Gina opened the door revealing a large office room. There was a desk and behind it sat a man. He was a couple decades older than Preston, but he wasn't yet old. His brown hair had only the faintest tinge of gray and he was in fair physical condition. He wore dark blue robes and his head raised when the door opened. "Preston Rolfe from the Guardian Force," Gina announced.

"Thank you Gina," the man said. "Please wait outside."

"Of course archmage," Gina replied, bowing slightly before leaving the room.

"Have a seat," the archmage said, gesturing to a chair across the desk from him.

Preston sat across from the man, silently sizing the other man up. He seemed harmless enough, but he had that aura, that certain feel that strong Mages had. It was subtle, unnoticeable to those who weren't looking for it. The man had a fairly strong aura much stronger than Scarlet's. In any case, this man wasn't one to be underestimated.

"My name is Zed," the man said. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Preston replied. "You sent a message to the Guardians?" He prompted.

"Yes, yes I did. I wanted to speak to someone from your organization about Nature's Guardians."

"We've heard of them."

"They do hate the cities," Zed agreed, nodding wisely. "They've become much more aggressive about recruitment lately. Several of my guild's members have left to join them and they keep sending emissaries asking us to join. Lately the invitations are sounding more and more like threats."

"So what do you want us to do?"

"We have a common enemy. I was hoping we could work together to bring them down, and in turn, perhaps your people will lose some of their unnecessary hatred of magic."

"We're willing to work with you," Preston replied. "But I can't promise any changes to the legal system. My boss is trying, but I can't promise anything."

"Even if we change only the minds of a few it will be worth it," Zed said airily. "I believe that one day magic will be accepted everywhere." Preston hoped that was true for Scarlet's sake, but he doubted it would happen quickly or easily.

"Any representatives you want to send will stay nights in the city-town, but will be under our protection during the day."

"I already know who I want to send," Zed said with a faraway look. He spoke with an absent-minded tone, as if his concentration were focused on something else. Preston wasn't sure if he was actually thinking about something else or if it was just the way he spoke. "Gina!" Zed called. The door opened and Preston's guide peered inside.

"Yes?" She asked.

"We need someone to go to the city. I was hoping you might go. Those people you met earlier are going as well and I thought you might enjoy it."

"I'd be honored archmage," Gina replied. Gina closed the door again.

"Isn't she an apprentice?" Presto asked.

"Yes. Any information we find will be sent to her. She's more than qualified enough to relay our findings. Besides, it's easier for the less skilled of us not to use magic too much. I presume the less magic used the better. Once you need us for combat we will send our more experienced Mages along. Gina will make regular reports so if there's something you need from me just let her know."

"Thank you," Preston said with a nod. He left the room, pausing to tell Gina where he was meeting the others, then heading to the inn to sleep for the night. Tomorrow he'd return to Lumiose, ragtag group in tow.


	17. The Red Building

**Author Note: **

**I've been in hotels all this week so this ended up being really short, I should have more time to write next week so hopefully it will be longer.**

**Pecha, Nami and Wolf had a three way tie for most popular character! **

* * *

Chapter 14: The Red Building

* * *

Scarlet and Liliana sat across from each other in their crowded room (what with the Dragonite and Samurott in there), both with looks of concentration upon their faces. "We have to do it," Scarlet declared.

"I agree," Liliana replied. "The red building is the only place we're going to find anything."

"We have to make sure we have a way out though. If we get caught we'll be brainwashed like Terra, or worse."

"We don't know what it looks like in there, how are we supposed to have a plan?"

"You haven't been paying enough attention," Scarlet said, a smug smile on her face.

"So tell me," Liliana grumbled irritated.

"These buildings are all basically the same. They don't have identical layouts, but they _are_ similar."

"Point being?"

"They are cooled by air vents. Vents large enough for someone to sneak through."

"So it's going to be me who goes in then," Liliana surmised.

"I'm going to go. This is my mission," Scarlet refuted.

"It's mine too and the vents aren't actually that large. I'd have a better time maneuvering and be more likely to make it out unnoticed. It has to be me."

Scarlet opened her mouth to argue again, but Liliana cut her off. "I can do it. I want to leave here even more than you do."

Scarlet was loathe to put a girl as young as Liliana in danger like this, but she was right. Scarlet was too large for the vents and would almost certainly get stuck. "Okay," Scarlet relented. "But be careful."

"I will," Liliana replied, standing.

"Where are you going?" Scarlet asked as Liliana walked off.

"No time like the present," she explained. "See ya." Liliana walked out, Percy watching his partner anxiously.

* * *

Getting into the red building was surprisingly easy actually. Liliana supposed the orders to stay away were enough to keep people out so they didn't bother posting a guard. There was access to the vents outside, so Liliana slipped into one, carefully closing it behind her. It was dark and small in the metal tube, but that was what she'd expected. That didn't make it any nicer, but at least she was prepared.

She crawled through a long stretch of empty tube before she finally reached an opening she could see though. Unfortunately, it was a vent into a closet. Boring. She continued on.

After several minutes of finding nothing of interest, Liliana finally happened upon something worthwhile. She peeked down, looking into the room below her. She could see several people, one of whom was Terra. As far as Liliana could tell, they were assembling something. It wasn't until she saw the timer that she realized what it was. A bomb. So that's what they did in the red room. They made bombs. Possibly other things as well, there was still a lot she hadn't seen.

_Bombs_? Percy asked, having been monitoring her thoughts. _Are you okay_?

_I'm fine_, Liliana replied. _They're making bombs_.

_That's good to know, now get out_, Percy said.

_I can keep looking. _

_Get out_, Percy insisted.

Liliana ignored him and continued forward. Suddenly, she felt the metal beneath her sag. She stopped, but it was too late. The metal beneath her emitted a loud, shrieking sound, then gave way sending her to the floor below. It took her several moments to recover from the fall, her head ringing with Percy's increasingly worried inquiries about her health.

_I'm fine_, she finally managed to reply, opening her eyes blearily. She immediately wished she hadn't. Razan stood above her, eyebrow raised in interest, Hypno at his side.

"I don't believe you're supposed to be here," he said, voice cold.

"Oops?" Liliana offered.

_Get out of there_! Percy yelled in her head.

"Hypno," Razan said. The Psychic Pokémon stepped forward. Liliana scrambled to her feet, ready to run, but Razan's vice like grip on her arm held her fast. His other arm grabbed her head and forced her to look at Hypno. She felt fog begin drifting into her mind, thoughts becoming harder to hold onto.

_Percy_? She called out.

_Liliana_! He replied. His voice was muted, as if from a great distance. He kept calling her name, but it was quieter every time until she couldn't hear it all. The last shred of self in her floated away and there was no more thought. There was only her orders and the will to accomplish them.

* * *

Scarlet sat in the room, worrying. She felt bad about sending the little girl in, even if she did have the best chance of succeeding.

_If you'd gone you would definitely have been captured_, Clarissa pointed out.

_I know, but if something happens to her, I'm the one who led her down this path_.

Percy was worried as well, judging by how the Samurott paced in the space between the beds. Suddenly, he went still and barked something anguished.

"What's wrong?" Scarlet asked. "Is it Liliana?"

_She got caught, _Clarissa explained_. Percy says he can't hear he anymore._

_Is she dead? _Scarlet asked quietly.

_No, her mind has just been altered, it's preventing Percy from talking to her. _

_So she was brainwashed. We have to get her out of here. Maybe we can find someone who can help. Does Percy know where she is?_

Clarissa asked the Samurott who replied in sad barks Scarlet couldn't understand_. He can, _Clarissa translated_. She's still in the red building, but she'll probably come back here to get her stuff. Liliana said that Terra did. _

_Good point. When she does that, we'll grab her. Can you carry all of us? _

_Not far, _Clarissa replied_. But I can get us off this flying rock at least_.

* * *

Scarlet, Clarissa and Percy waited anxiously in the room for Liliana to return. They'd packed all their things already and Scarlet had strapped them to Clarissa. All they had to do now was grab Liliana and make a run for it. Scarlet had never really gotten to know the other girl very well and felt bad about it now. If they couldn't fix her, who she was would be gone forever, and Scarlet wasn't even sure who that was. She decided that if they could bring her mind back, she'd make a bigger effort to get to know Liliana.

* * *

Liliana finally came to the room and Clarissa grabbed the girl in her arms. The Dragonite walked out the door followed closely by Scarlet and Percy who mounted the dragon, though the Samurott was only able to stay on thanks to a spell cast by Scarlet.

"What are you doing?" Liliana asked. She seemed remarkably unbothered for someone being held in the air by a Dragonite.

"We're getting out of here," Scarlet said.

"Oh, is that our mission?"

"Yup, sure is," Scarlet replied.

"Okay then," Liliana said. The girl's easy acceptance was rather disturbing given her generally sarcastic and unhelpful attitude when she was acting herself. Clarissa walked as swiftly as she was able straight for the edge, knocking over the barricades marking the edge of the base as she did so.

There was yelling from people who had noticed their actions, but Clarissa was already jumping off the edge. Scarlet lifted up a paper with a sigil drawn upon it, threw some herbs in the air and said, "Disguise." This spell would hide Clarissa for a short period of time, giving them a chance to get away from their pursuers. Clarissa was basically falling as she was carrying too much weight to fly, but she slowed the fall considerably and was able to direct their descent slightly. She aimed for some empty looking hills desperately hoping they'd be able to find some help for Liliana, and as a result, help for Terra and all the others who'd been brainwashed by Razan.


	18. On the Road to Lumiose

**Author's Note: **

**Sorry, another really short one. I've been super busy, so sorry if this isn't very good. Thanks to everyone who reviewed :)**

* * *

Chapter 15: On the Road to Lumiose

* * *

Getting back to Lumiose was going to take significantly longer than getting to the Mage's Guild had as Preston's Charizard, Calvin, couldn't carry all of them. Especially since they were all Pokésouls, except for Gina that is, so Calvin would have to carry all of the Pokémon as well. It was rather remarkable that the four traveling companions were all Pokésouls. From the stories they'd told Preston, they'd all met randomly. Things like that didn't usually happen. Though Nami and Blake were both Pokésouls as well and it was uncommon for siblings to both be Pokésouls. He supposed the people just had weird crazy luck, he wasn't sure it was good luck or bad, but it was luck all the same.

"I'm hungry," Gina said as the group walked up to a town. "Can we stop to eat here?"

"That sounds good to me," Pecha replied. "I'm hungry too."

"We might as well stop here for the night," Blake suggested. "It's getting late anyway."

"Fine," Preston sighed, not in enough of a hurry to try to convince a bunch of hungry teenagers to get a move on. "We'll stay in the tavern for the night."

"Not me," Zyra said. "I'm sleeping in a tree."

"Is it really that comfy?" Nevin wondered. "I tried lying on a tree branch once but it broke."

"You weren't doing it right. You have to be the tree." The two talked about it some more but Preston tuned the rest of it out, judging it to be nonsense.

"What's the Guardian Force like?" Pecha asked. "I've seen it in TV shows, but I've found those to be inaccurate."

"They generally are," Preston agreed. "In theory we take down major threats to the people every day. In truth it's mostly paper work. There aren't as many world threatening crises as television would have you believe."

"We happen to be in one of those crises right now though don't we?" Blake pointed out. "Maybe not world threatening, but Nature's Guardians is definitely a threat to the cities."

"We're going to stop them though," Nami said, quiet but determined.

"We will," Blake agreed. Ren grumbled in solidarity.

"What is their goal anyway?" Pecha wondered aloud. "I heard that one rally but I couldn't figure out what the end goal was."

"I don't think even the members even know for sure," Blake replied. "They tell people it's to save nature or to make the lives of us out here equal to those in the cities, but I don't see how anything they've done does that."

"What all did they make you do?" Nami asked quietly.

"Nothing too bad," Blake assured. "They used my ID card to get into the city and they had me go on recruitment missions. Anything more than that and I wouldn't have done it."

"Good," Nami said. "I'm glad you didn't do anything terrible for me."

The arrival of the group at the cafe cut off the conversation. They found a table large enough for all of them and ordered some food.

"How long does it take to get to this Lumiose place?" Zyra wondered as they ate. "Is it far?"

"It's very far away," Nami replied. "But we only need to get to Goldenrod."

"Why is that?"

"The cities have transporters so you can teleport between cities," Pecha explained. "Once we reach Goldenrod, we're just a button press away away!"

"Why do you know all this stuff," Zyra asked. "It's all so useless!"

"To you it is. All knowledge is useful to somebody," Pecha countered cheerfully.

"So you live in the woods?" Preston asked Zyra, his curiosity finally getting the better of him.

"I used to. I'm traveling with them right now, but when I'm done I'll go back to the woods. Why anyone would want to live in one of these creepy buildings is beyond me." Zyra stared suspiciously at the walls around her.

"You've made some...interesting friends," Blake commented to Nami.

"They're very strange," Nami agreed. "But very nice."

"I've never been in a city before!" Nevin said excitedly. "I wonder what it will be like."

"Terrible," Zyra answered.

"Different," Blake added. "A lot more metal. A lot less trees."

"Is your family from the woods?" Preston asked, still trying to understand the woodland girl. "A village of woods people?"

"I lived in a village when I was a little girl. Raiders destroyed it. I hid in the woods so I survived," Zyra replied, her voice quieter than usual.

"That's horrible," Nami said, her expression sad.

"The raiders kill a lot of people out here," Pecha said grimly.

"They attacked my town a few times," Nevin agreed. "But my father and Kari fought them off!" Is face lit up at the mention of his sister, as it usually did.

"The raider attacks are that bad?" Preston asked. "I thought they were scattered, smaller incidents."

"The raiders aren't actually an organized group," Pecha explained. "They're just people who steal and kill out here. So depending on which group of raiders you're dealing with, the more danger you're in. Whoever attacked Zyra's village are the worst kind."

"What did they have to gain from destroying your town?" Preston asked. Preston knew that criminals always have motive. Completely destroying a town seemed pointless. What did they get from that?

"They didn't get anything," Zyra replied. "My town was poor."

"Enjoyment," Blake answered darkly. "Some people just like killing."

The somber turn of the conversation made them eat in silence. After they had finished eating, Preston pulled Gina away from the group to speak about relations between the Guardians and the Guild.

* * *

The remaining travelers were left at the original table, and the mood had lifted thanks to a cheerful story told by Nevin.

"So what personal reason do you have for wanting to go to Lumiose?" Zyra asked during a lull in the conversation, turning towards Pecha.

Pecha stared down at the table for a few moments, then began to talk. "I've told you about how I'm from that tiny village, Cornflower. But that's not completely true."

"What do you mean?" Zyra asked suspiciously.

"I've lived most my life there, but I wasn't born there. I was born in Jubilife."

"A city?" Nami said. "You're a city dweller?"

Pecha reached into her bag and produced a card, similar to Nami's ID. The picture on it was on a tiny girl with brown hair and the name written below it was 'Pecha Woods'. "I don't remember it much at all, but I have this. My father was a scientist, he studied Pokésouls. He brought my mother and I on a trip to the Outerlands to study more Pokésouls, but there was a storm and they died. Zap managed to save me, but they didn't make it. I want to go to Jubilife. My father's lab should still be there and I want to see it. I have his research journal and I need to bring it there. Then maybe his research can live on."

"You're from Jubilife?" Nami said. "I've been there before. I could go with you to your father's lab."

"Would you?" Pecha asked, gratitude obvious in her voice. "That would be amazing."

"I'll come too if that guy'll let me," Blake added, gesturing to Preston.

"I want to go too!" Nevin exclaimed. "I've never seen a lab!"

"Sorry Nevin," Nami said. "They don't let people without IDs use the transporters."

"Then how are we getting to Lumiose?" Zyra asked.

"Gina doesn't have an ID either," Nevin pointed out.

"We'll be with Preston," Blake explained. "He's a Guardian so he can authorize your transport. Nami, Pecha and I are just citizens, we don't have the permission."

"That's too bad," Nevin sighed.

"I'll take pictures," Nami offered.

"Thanks!" Nevin replied, brightening immediately. The group chatted the night away, Gina and Preston joining in a bit later, and eventually retired for the night, ready to continue their journey another day.


	19. Welcome to Lumiose

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry this is a day late, I didn't have a chance to update yesterday. Again, I apologize if the quality is a bit worse than normal, hopefully my schedule will calm down again soon. I hope you enjoy the new chapter anyway! Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing! I really appreciate them :)**

* * *

Chapter 16: Welcome to Lumiose

* * *

It took a few days of travelling, but the group eventually arrived at Goldenrod. Zyra glared at the large concrete walls while Nevin hopped excitedly. "Are we going in?" He asked.

"This way," Preston replied, leading them to the gates. There was a mob of people loitering around them, some yelling at the guards to let them in. Preston passed them by without a second glance. The others followed with more caution.

"I'll need to get temporary passes for all of you," Preston said.

"Not for me," Pecha corrected.

"You're from a city?"

Pecha handed her ID to Preston in response.

"Pecha Woods," He read. "You're Fred Woods' daughter?" He asked with surprise. That would be why he had recognized her name. Preston had read all of Dr. Wood's research on Pokésouls after meeting Scarlet.

"Fred?" Zyra snorted. "Is that your dad's name? I figured it would be Chesto or Aspear."

"My parents' names were Fred and Maggie," Pecha said. "Then they named me Pecha because they loved nature. And apparently didn't realize it was a silly name."

"You've heard of Pecha's father?" Nami asked Preston. "We want to visit his lab."

"Fred Woods was the expert on Pokésouls. I read all of his research when I became head of the Pokésoul division. He went on a research trip and never returned. I supposed he's dead then?"

Pecha nodded. "He and my mother died in a storm."

"Sorry to hear that, they were good people."

"Thanks."

Preston handed back the ID and told them to stay by the gate for a moment. He walked over to the small admissions booth and greeted the attendant. "I need three temporary IDs and a temporary replacement for Blake Salem's ID," Preston told the man.

The man saw Preston's glittering badge and nodded. He pressed some buttons on his computer, then handed over three small cards. "Thanks," Preston said. The attendant nodded.

Preston returned to the others and handed Gina, Zyra, Blake, and Nevin the cards. "We're ready to go in now," Preston announced. The walls towered above the group, casting a shadow on the road to the gate. The gate itself was actually open, however the barrier was closed. There was a small scanner standing in front of the barrier and Preston held his ID in front of it. There was no visible change.

"Nothing happened," Zyra pointed out.

"Not true," Preston said as he walked forward, the barrier simply allowing him through.

"I've heard about this," Pecha said excitedly. "The barrier doesn't open, because that would let too many people in, so instead it just allows the person who scanned the ID to enter!"

Nevin bounced over to the barrier and touched it curiously. His hand did not go through. "Cool!" He exclaimed.

Everyone came through, though Zyra did so with a look of extreme disgust on her face.

"You can all come in during the day, but the three of you without city IDs have to sleep outside the walls," Preston informed when they were all inside again.

"Why would I want to sleep in here anyway?" Zyra wondered. "I'm only here because I want to beat up the people threatening Nami."

"Come on, we can take the transporter to Lumiose."

The travel to the transporter was uneventful as was the transport itself, other than the part where Zyra yelled at the walls for eating her. Once in Lumiose, Preston guided the others to the Guardian Force building.

* * *

"This is my department," Preston informed as they walked up to a door on the third floor.

Upon opening the door, Preston was bombarded. Wyvrn was pointing to Christopher, Wolf was talking about someone they'd captured and Kai was speaking excitedly about the names she'd looked into. "Everyone quiet," Preston demanded.

"Who are they?" Kai asked, finally noticing the people standing behind Preston.

"That's Blake Salem," Preston said, gesturing at the black-haired boy.

"Oh, really? Nature's Guardians used your name to get in you know," Kai said.

"I know," he replied.

"And the others?" Wyvrn asked, glaring at them all with distaste. Zyra glared back.

"His sister and her friends, also an emissary from the Mage's Guild. They know the Outerlands better than we do, so maybe they can help."

"Hi there everyone!" Nevin exclaimed. "I'm Nevin. That's Zyra, Pecha, Nami, Gina and Blake!"

"Did you say Pecha?" Wolf asked.

"Like the berry?" Kai finished.

"She was named after a berry," Nami confirmed as Pecha sighed heavily.

"Well, I'm Kai. That's Wolf and Wyvrn. We have two other members of our task force, but they're not here right now. Also I have no idea who that guy is."

"I'm Christopher," Christopher muttered.

"It's nice to meet all of you!" Nevin said with a grin, writing their names in his journal.

"What is he doing?" Wyvrn wondered.

"It's his friendship journal," Zyra replied. "He writes down the names of all the people he meets in there."

"Everyone," Preston called their attention. "Gina here is from the Mage's Guild. She's going to help us with Nature's Guardians, but we have to have someone with her in the city at all times as a precaution. She is allowed to be here, but the citizens don't know about her presence. Wyvrn, you'll be her guard."

"What? Why me?" Wyvrn demanded.

"If someone attacks her you'll fight back immediately. Wolf and Kai would be more reasonable. In this one case your violent tendencies may prove useful."

Gina looked nervously at the scary man, but nodded in agreement.

"If he tries anything, you let us know," Zyra said quietly. "We'll protect you."

"Thanks," Gina said gratefully.

"Zyra and Nevin aren't city dwellers and will have to go outside at night, Gina isn't either so you'll have to go outside with her Wyvrn." Wyvrn grunted in understanding. "Pecha, Blake and Nami are city dwellers so they can stay. We know that a threat has been made on Nami's life and Blake just defected, so Wolf, I'd like you to stay with them."

"Roger that boss," Wolf said with a salute.

"What about me?" Kai asked. "Don't I get to do anything?"

"They need a place to stay, does your friend Mira have room? I know Wolf's place is too small."

"She does! And she won't mind, well she might but I'll convince her!"

"Oh, boss," Wolf began. "Kirtus and I caught someone planting a bomb in our plant. She's in custody."

"You won't get much from her though," Kai warned. "Her name is Saria and according to the list she's an underling. The one we want is Altair."

"Altair is one of the top people," Blake informed.

"We know," Kai said. "We have a picture." She produced the poster Scarlet had sent with the pictures on it.

"Yep, that's her," Blake agreed.

"So what do you want us to do now boss? Other than watch out for them." Wolf asked.

"I need to interrogate Saria. I doubt we'll get anything from her, but I have to try. Now that we know who it is we're looking for, we can start being proactive. Kai, I need you to start scanning the city for Altair. We've caught one of her people and so she's probably changed her strategy now."

"So what do we do?" Kai wondered.

"We need to find Altair. I'll get one of the other divisions to guard the plants, so Kirtus and Christina can come back. Then I want everyone looking for Altair. Of course, guarding our guests takes priority, but maybe they can help as well."

"Roger that boss," Wolf said.

"You all can go now," Preston said to the Outerlanders. "I'll contact you when I need your help."

"What are we supposed to do?" Zyra wondered.

"Whatever you want for now," Preston replied. "I'll need Blake to help, but the rest of you are just visitors."

Zyra sighed but followed Wolf out the door along with the others.

"This man wanted to speak with you," Wyvrn said, gesturing derisively at Christopher. "Also, we checked out that hotel but there was nothing there."

"That's too bad but not unsurprising. Now what can I do for you?" Preston asked.

"I was going to tell you about the Nature Guardian members in the city, it it seems you already know," Christopher said with a shrug. "But since I'm here maybe I can help."

Preston got the feeling that wasn't what he'd come for, but he couldn't turn down help right now.

"Okay, you can work with Wyvrn guarding Gina and scouting potential bombing sites. Kai, you know what to do."

"Hacking it is," Kai said with a slightly evil grin. The three left, Wyvrn with a large scowl, and Preston heaved a heavy sigh, finally getting a moment to himself. He didn't linger, as he had to go interrogate the prisoner, but the moment was enough. He stood and headed downstairs.

* * *

"First things first, you need to get your IDs updated," Wolf said to Pecha, Nami and Blake.

"So that's something I don't need to do then," Zyra surmised. Every time a car drove past she flinched or scowled at it.

"Nope, just those three," Wolf agreed.

"Then let's go on an adventure!" Nevin exclaimed. "See the city! Explore!"

"Or we could go outside where there are trees and things," Zyra countered.

"There are trees here," Nevin replied. "Like there!" Nevin and Zyra wandered off, still debating about what to do next.

"Come on," Wolf said once they'd gone. "Let's go to ID services."

Pecha kept staring wide-eyed at the cars and buildings and nearly walked into the street a couple times, Nami's quick reflexes the only things stopping her.

"We have to update our IDs?" Pech asked, staring at one of the giant TV screens showing advertisements for some sort of energy drink.

"They're updated once a year so the appearance is always current," Nami informed.

"Mine needs to be reissued too," Blake said. "They took it at Nature's Guardians."

"We can get everything sorted out," Wolf assured. "So what's it like in the Outerlands?"

"Lots of trees and dirt," Nami replied.

"And crazy fanatics," Blake added.

"Huh. That doesn't sound very fun," Wolf said.

"It's not that bad," Pecha assured. "There's not much tech, but there's a lot of space. All kinds of plants and nature and stuff."

"I prefer the city," Nami said. "It's much less dirty here." She tugged on a sleeve of her sweater for emphasis, the white sleeve more of a brown color now from all the dirt it had collected.

"I think both have their good points," Pecha mused.

"Anywhere that isn't Nature's Guardians headquarters is good with me," Blake said.

"It sounds exciting any way," Wolf said. "Ah, here we are." Wolf stopped before a door with a sign above it reading 'ID services'. "It's really easy," he assured them. They walked inside to a room full of small booths. Blake and Wolf had to go to the person working there, as Blake had no ID, but Pecha and Nami could use the booths.

"How does this work?" Pecha asked, looking intimidated.

"It's like this," Nami said, gesturing for Pecha to follow her into one of the booths. Inside was a touchscreen and a camera. "You put your ID in here." Nami inserted her card into a small slot by the screen. Her name and information appeared on the screen along with the words, 'Renewal needed' written at the bottom. Nami touched the screen and it came up with instructions telling her to step back for the camera. There was a flash, then the screen said, 'Renewal successful.' It then spat her card back out and she showed Pecha. It looked exactly the same, save for the fact that her picture was now updated. "Did that make sense?" Nami asked.

"Yeah," Pecha said though she still looked a bit confused. Nami ended up doing most of it for her as the other girl hadn't used a computer when she lived in the Outerlands, which was most of her life. By the time they'd finished, Blake and Wolf had as well.

"This is cool," Pecha said awed, looking at her updated ID. Nami wondered what Zyra would have thought of all this. Probably accused it of being evil. Nevin probably would have tried to befriend the computers.

"What now?" Blake asked, pocketing his own ID.

Wolf shrugged. "That was all you needed to do. Now we wait for Preston to contact me, until then you can do whatever you want. Except for going to the Outerlands of course."

"We wanted to go to Jubilife," Nami said.

"Jubilife? Why?" He wondered.

"I was born there but I left when I was really young," Pecha replied. "There are some things it need to take care of there."

Wolf shrugged. "It's fine with me. We just have to come back immediately if Preston calls."

"You're sure it's not too far away?" Pecha asked anxiously.

"Nah," Wolf assured. "The transporters make it so that none of the cities actually seem that far away. It's this way." He led the trio to the teleport rooms, off to see Pecha's past.


	20. Dinner Party

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry this is a week late, I got sick and didn't feel like writing. I've also been really stressed lately, which apparently makes me only want to write plotless nonsense, so that's all this is really. Sorry about that! I'll try to get back to plot, RL has just been crazy lately...**

**As always, thank you so much to everyone who reviews, your kind words really do make my day :D**

**Also, Happy Valentine's Day everyone!**

* * *

Chapter 17: Dinner Party

* * *

Wolf, Nami, Blake and Pecha walked out of the transporter building onto the bustling streets of Jubilife. "It looks like Lumiose," Pecha mused.

"All the cities look fairly similar," Nami replied. "But Lumiose is the largest."

"So your city looked like this too?"

"Basically," Blake replied. "But there are different things in all of them."

"So any idea where we're going?" Wolf asked.

"Uh, I have an address," Pecha answered, reaching into her bag. She pulled out a journal, the pages yellowing with age, and read aloud an address written in the front cover. "Do you know where that is?" She asked.

"Nope. I can find out though," Wolf replied. He lead them over to a map built into the side of the transporter building. It looked like a picture printed on the wall, but when Wolf touched it the surface rippled and a search bar came up.

"Cool," Pecha said.

"Are those new?" Blake asked. "I've never seen one before."

"They installed them in most of the cities about a year ago," Wolf replied as he typed the address in. He hit enter and the screen highlighted a route for them, along with the offer to send it to his phone. Wolf hit yes and a smaller version appeared on his phone, which he held in front of him.

"I thought the Mage's Guild was interesting, but the things here are somehow more impressive," Pecha mused.

"There are things magic can do that technology can't though," Blake said. "And things tech can do magic can't. They both help people, but in different ways."

"That was deep," Wolf said, sounding impressed.

"Uh, thank you?"

The three walked down the streets until they came to a small building. "This is it," Wolf said. The building was clearly abandoned, sitting vacantly.

"It looks empty," Blake said.

Wolf looked at the scene of his phone and informed, "In the records it says this building is owned by Fred Woods. The city was never sure if he died or not, so they assumed it was still his. When you report his death, I guess this will belong to you."

"Really?" Pecha said. "I never thought I'd actually find much here, you mean I get this entire building? They never just, sold it?"

"They can't do that legally," Blake replied. "For all everyone here knows, your parents are still alive and the city can't just take people's stuff like that."

Nami nodded and added, "Blake and I still own our house even though we haven't been there in three years."

"That's right, we should probably check on that at some point and make sure it hasn't burned down or something."

The four walked into the deserted building. It was a small lab, but with a bit of imagination one could tell that it had been a rather nice one in its prime.

"His journals..." Pecha took the volumes to study later. "Now that I know where it is I can come back later. We should probably get back to Lumiose before it gets too late. I think the journals have everything I need."

"Good idea," Wolf agreed. "It's getting close to dinner time anyway."

* * *

The group returned to Lumiose and was walking down the street when someone called out, "Hi there Wolf!"

Wolf spun around, preparing for battle before suddenly relaxing. "I thought you were a hacker, not a spy," Wolf accused a grinning Kai.

"I'm a girl of many talents. I thought I'd show our new friends to their temporary living quarters."

"Where are we going?" Blake asked.

"My friend Mira's house!"

"She won't mind?" Nami asked. "We could stay in a hotel."

"Hotels aren't safe enough," Wolf replied. "Besides, they're uncomfortable."

"Are the hotels here very different from in the Outerlands?" Pecha wondered.

"Very different," Nami replied. "Here the hotels have beds along with their own bathrooms, TV's, computers and food service."

"So a lot fancier then."

"And more expensive."

"They have hotels in the Outerlands?" Wolf wondered.

"Well, we call them inns but yeah," Pecha replied.

During this conversation Kai had been leading the group down the street and they arrived at a fairly large house. "This is Mira's place," Kai announced. "She's a Pokésoul so I'm sure you'll get along."

"Right..." Blake said doubtfully.

Kai pushed the door open and yelled, "Hi Mira! We have guests!"

"Guests?" asked a girl Blake assumed was Mira. She came into view followed by a Kirlia. "That's a lot of people," she said.

"This is Blake, his sister Nami, and their friend Pecha!" Kai explained. "They need a place to stay for a little while and we were hoping they could stay here."

Mira shrugged. "I suppose that's okay, but you're going to pay for groceries. And I'm not cooking for everyone."

"We will help in any way possible," Nami assured. "Thank you for your generosity."

Nami's promise seemed to soothe Mira a bit and her tone became more friendly. "It's nice to meet you all," she said. "I'm Mira Lee."

"It's nice to meet you as well," Nami began, but was interrupted by the door opening again behind them.

"Woah," said a girl. Blake turned to look at the newcomers. A girl and a boy stood on the threshold.

"Hi Christina!" Kai said. "That's Christina and Kirtus," Kai explained to Blake, Nami and Pecha.

"Who are all these people?" Christina asked as Kirtus gave them a friendly wave.

"This is Blake and Nami Salem and Pecha Woods," Kai introduced.

"Pecha?" Christina repeated.

"Please don't," Pecha begged.

"What are they all doing here?"

"They're staying with us," Mira said. "I think we may be over the occupancy limit though. Shall we have dinner?"

The mob of people all walked into Mira's dining room, a room furnished for only Mira and Kira to have regular meals there. "This is ridiculous!" Mira exclaimed after Zap knocked a chair over and Ren started a minor fire. "We can't all fit in here, we're eating in separate rooms!"

"Ooh! We get to pick who we eat with!" Kai said. "I want to eat with the siblings!" Kai dragged Nami and Blake away into the study without giving them a chance to object or accept. Blake faintly heard Pecha, Wolf and Kirtus evacuating to the living room.

The study was a fairly small room, and the only chair was a seat beside the computer, so the three sat on the ground. Nami and Blake sat next to each other, Kai sitting across from them and staring avidly. The way she acted seemed sort of shallow, but Blake had the feeling that at least some of her flippant demeanor was an act. People's eyes always betrayed them, and she had intelligent ones.

"So you two haven't been in a city in a while huh?" She asked.

"This is my first time back in a few years," Nami replied. Yuki settled down next to her, though the Pokémon seemed a bit nervous about all the new people. Ren was seated as well, though Blake could feel through their bond that he was ready to fight to defend Blake and Nami if he needed to.

"Same here," Blake added.

"So Nature's Guardians never sent you here?"

"No. They kept me to recruitment missions in the Outerlands."

"And you just happened to be at the Mage's Guild at the same time as Preston. Isn't that really lucky?" The question was asked in a friendly manner, but she was clearly suspicious of him. For good reason, it really was just a coincidence that Nami and her friends were there at the same time, but he understood why that would sound fishy.

"It was," Nami replied, her voice turning a bit cold at the implied suspicion.

"Razan, the leader, seemed to want everyone to hear about us. Basically everyone was sent on recruiting missions."

"But why would they send you to try to turn the Mage's Guild?" Kai wondered. "Isn't that more important?"

"They send an emissary to the guild almost once a week to try to get them to officially support Nature's Guardians. They don't need trusted people to do that."

Kai made a thoughtful noise and nodded.

"I'm done in the kitchen!" Mira announced loudly. "Someone else can use it now!"

"Let's make some food!" Kai exclaimed, the shrewdness form earlier swiftly vanishing from her expression. Nami and Blake exchanged confused looks but followed the hacker to the kitchen.

* * *

In the study Pecha sat with Wolf and Kirtus. Kirtus appeared to be asleep, even though the boy had only just sat down. "Is he asleep?" She asked hesitantly, not wanting to seem rude.

"Kirtus? Yeah. He can sleep anywhere," Wolf replied. "It's an amazing skill."

"Super sleeping?"

"Yeah! He's a super hero! Kirtus the Super Sleeper!"

"My gadgets would do all the crime fighting for me," Kirtus mumbled, apparently not as asleep as he seemed. Or he was just sleep talking, Pecha really wasn't sure.

"You're an inventor?" Pecha asked, not sure if he was actually awake or not. Apparently he wasn't as he didn't respond to her question.

"In his free time he likes to tinker," Wolf replied. "When he's not sleeping that is."

We heard Mira yell something about being done in the kitchen, then the girl sat next to Pecha, Christina settling next to her. They both had full plates of food.

"Hi Mira," Wolf greeted.

"Are you and Kirtus staying here too?" Mira wondered. "Kai didn't mention it."

"Nah, I'll go home in a little bit," Wolf replied. "Kirtus too."

"You both live around here?" Pecha asked.

"I live pretty nearby, but Kirtus is on the lower level so it takes him longer to get home." Pecha vaguely knew what the lower level was from television shows, but she didn't completely understand. As Mira, Christina and Wolf spoke, and Pecha found she was this way about most of their topics. She certainly didn't feel like she had anything to contribute to the conversation.

Pecha felt quite out of place, and was wondering if there was a discreet way she could run into the other room where Nami was when the black haired girl called to her from inside the kitchen. Pecha quickly climbed to her feet and retreated.

The kitchen wasn't much better, as it as full of all kinds of appliances Pecha had seen on TV, but had no idea how to actually use. Press some buttons, probably.

_You're a genius_, Zap remarked dryly.

_I'd like to see you use one_, Pecha grumbled back.

"Are you okay Pecha?" Nami asked when she noticed Pecha staring at a blender like it held the answers to the universe.

There's so much strange stuff here," Pecha replied.

"Yeah, that's how I felt in the Outerlands," Nami replied. "I'm sure you'll get used to it soon." Nami handed the girl a plate of what Pecha recognized from TV as pizza. She'd never had one before. "How do you think Zyra's holding up?"

"She's probably been arrested by now."

"Nah, they'd never catch her."

* * *

Zyra and Nevin ambled about the city, Nevin excitedly and Zyra suspiciously. She'd stopped complaining and decided to just keep an eye out. Pecha was annoying with all her random trivia, but her claim that knowledge was a handy thing to have was correct. Zyra hoped to spend as little time as possible in the cities, but knowing more about them would likely come in handy.

"There is so much stuff here!" Nevin exclaimed.

"That's what's terrible about it," Zyra grumbled.

They walked along the roads aimlessly looking at things until they came upon Gina sitting in a cafe with the scary white-haired man and the ragged man.

"It's Gina and our new friends!" Nevin exclaimed, bouncing in excitement. Wyvrn sent him a disdainful glance while the ragged one smiled and waved.

"Hey Gina, they treating you okay?" Zyra asked.

"Yes," Gina replied. Zyra wasn't certain if her response was actually genuine or if she was afraid of Wyvrn, just in case Zyra decided to stick around. Gina had to sleep outside the walls with her and Nevin anyway, so they might as well hang out together. Without asking permission, Zyra grabbed a chair and moved it to the table. She perched on the chair, her feet on the seat, ready to make an escape if needed.

Nevin followed her example and pulled up a chair, though he sat in his normally.

Gina looked a bit grateful, but Wyvrn appeared angry, or maybe that was just his default expression.

"What are you guys doing anyway?" Zyra asked as she grabbed a piece of Wyvrn's bread. His hand made a sharp movement towards her, but he pulled it back. She would have to keep an eye on that one.

"We're having dinner," Gina replied. "Tomorrow we'll start looking for Altair."

"I don't remember your name," Zyra said bluntly to the unshaven male.

"It's Christopher. Christopher Xanatos. I'm not a member of the Guardian force, I just help them out sometimes."

"We don't need your help," Wyvrn growled.

"Your boss seems to disagree," Christopher said with a shrug.

Wyvrn stood abruptly, fury in his eyes, knocking his chair over. His Kadabra levitated the chair back up and stared at it pointedly. Grudgingly, Wyvrn retook his seat. The outburst was clearly about more than just Christopher's statement (Zyra stealing his meal probably contributed), but it was evident the man had anger issues.

"You get angry easily don't you?" Nevin asked innocently. "Isn't it easier to just be happy?"

"And be stupid like you?" Wyvrn spat.

"Hey!" Zyra protested. "He's not stupid!" Though, privately she did think Nevin was a bit naive. Not stupid, just much too innocent. He hadn't seen the terrors of the world yet.

"I may be stupid," Nevin agreed. "But I'd rather be stupid and happy than smart and not."

This was one of the philosophical things Zyra had ever heard him say.

"Or you could just be both," Christopher suggested.

Gina watched the theatrics, calmly continuing her meal. "The sun is about to set," she pointed out. "Doesn't that mean we need to leave?"

"Oh! It does!" Nevin agreed. "Let's go!" He jumped up and waited. Zyra lithely dis,ousted her own chair and Gina walked towards them. Wyvrn and Christopher did as well. "Are you guys coming too?" Nevin asked excitedly, his opinion of them apparently not changed by the meal.

"I was ordered to," Wyvrn replied. "I don't know about him."

"I'm sticking around, interesting things are happening," Christopher said. So the five people made their way to the gate so they'd be well-rested for the adventures tomorrow would bring.


	21. Mysteries of the Mind

**Author's Note:**

**We're finally checking in with a bunch of characters who've been MIA for a while. Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Chapter 18: Mysteries of the Mind

* * *

River sat idly in her mansion, wanting something to happen. She supposed she could go see Volke, he was always entertaining, but she saw him a lot lately. She wanted something different. She would soon regret wanting this.

_Someone's coming_, Mist hissed.

_Who is it_? River asked.

_Your favorite person_. Mist's tone was sarcastic, so River knew it could only be one person. Sky.

_Can I pretend not to be home_? River wondered, examining the underneath of her desk.

Mist chortled and the Mismagius merged with a statue of a Lanturn on River's desk. Inside the object, the Pokémon was completely invisible.

"River!" Sky announced, slamming the doors of her office open. "How are ya?"

"Hello Lucinda, Sky," River said. The taller of the two women leaned against the door, a bored expression on her face. "What brings you two here?" Sky continued forward until she got to River's desk, then she leaned on it.

River noted the close proximity of the Lanturn statue to Sky's face.

"We're bored, got any jobs?" Sky asked.

"You usually have work for me, not the other way around," River commented.

"Oh come on, you have your brainy little fingers in everything, surely you've got something."

"No I-" the sound of a door opening interrupted her. It was the main door, as Sky hadn't bothered to close the office door. Sky turned around and Mist chose this time to fall over, using the statue as a body, landing on Sky's hand.

Sky whirled, knife in hand, and stared at the statue in confusion. "The statue attacked me?" Peals of laughter echoed in River's head as Mist watched Sky glaring at the statue.

A tall blond woman entered the room, followed by a younger girl with brown hair. "Hello," River said, ignoring Sky's confusion. "Can I help you?"

"Hi. I'm Scarlet."

"I remember you," Lucinda said. "What are you doing here?"

"The Red Neck?" Scarlet said in confusion.

"Would someone mind explaining?" River asked slightly impatiently.

"I'm Scarlet, this is Liliana," Scarlet said, gesturing at her friend who had an odd vacant expression on her face. "We were a part of Nature's Guardians, and while we were there I met the Red Neck and asked her to mail a letter for me. Now I'm here to ask for your help."

"My help? Why me?"

"I know Kai Akiyama. She's mentioned you a few times."

"Kai?" River asked, perking up suddenly. "Are you from the city then?"

"From here originally, but I married a city dweller."

"So city citizen by marriage. It's nice to meet you."

"You too."

"So, what can I do for you?" River asked. She'd ask for money later, if this person was a friend of Kai's River felt she had to help. Friend of a friend and all that.

"My friend here," Scarlet gestured at the vacant girl, Liliana. "She was brainwashed by Razan. Do you know any way to help her?"

"She was brainwashed? How?"

"He's a Pokésoul. His partner is a Hypno."

"Hmm. Well if she was brainwashed by a psychic Pokésoul, reason stands that a psychic Pokésoul could change her back."

"Or we could just slap her a few times," Sky suggested. "Maybe that would snap her out of it."

Scarlet glared at the small assassin, then refocused her attention on River. "Do you know any psychic Pokésouls?"

"Not personally. The city keeps records, if you're a citizen why don't you take her there?" River wondered

"I can't," Scarlet replied. "I don't know what Razan's told her to do. What if I take her inside and she gets away from me and starts killing people?"

"Fair point," River conceded.

"Well we know where one psychic Pokésoul _was_," Sky said. "She couldn't have gone all that far."

"You mean Starlight?" River asked.

"Yeah, we could probably track her. We were looking for work anyway."

"Only if we get paid," Lucinda added.

"I can pay," Scarlet promised. "You know I have money." Lucinda nodded.

"Even if you do find Starlight, do you think she'll help you?" River wondered. "Didn't you try to kill her?"

"We're still not sure what the job was," Sky replied.

"Though if it's true she can break his hold over people the mission was most likely an assassination," Lucinda pointed out. "Ridding the world of other psychic Pokésouls would make him very powerful."

"We need to move quickly," Scarlet said. "I need to warn Preston about all this."

"Your husband?" River assumed. Scarlet nodded. River knew for Preston from Kai. "I could go to the city and warn him. Then you can take your time." River considered simply sending a message to Kai, but she wasn't certain that their normal communication channels were secure. With hackers like Virus in the cities, their conversations could very well be read, and letting the enemy know their plans was not a good idea.

"Really?" Scarlet asked. "How much do you want?"

"I don't need any money," River said. "Razan threatens all of us, I can do this for free. Plus I haven't been traveling in a long time and it will be nice to get out."

"Will you be able to get inside?" Scarlet asked.

"Kai can get me in," River assured. "You should go, it's possible her mind gets more damaged as time goes by."

Scarlet looked anxiously at Liliana and nodded and hurried outside followed by the woman duo.

River stood and pulled out her traveling case. "Its been too long," she told it as she threw things inside.

_Talking to yourself_? Mist asked.

_Talking to objects_, River corrected.

_That's much less strange_, Mist giggled. _Did you see Sky's face_? River smiled a bit at her Pokémon's joy. Mist loved playing pranks on Sky, which was possibly one of the reasons the assassin enjoyed sending River gifts she knew River would hate.

River was soon packed, her packing skills still honed from all her years on the road. She exited her mansion, making sure to lock the door behind her (though if Sky wanted in for some reason that would not stop her). Her bag slung over her shoulder, River started down the road only to be stopped by someone saying her name. She turned to find Volke.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"I'm going on a trip to Lumiose," She said.

"By yourself?"

"Well, Mist is coming of course." At the mention, the Mismagius briefly flickered into view before vanishing again, a faint giggle echoing around them.

"My uncle lives near Goldenrod," Volke said. "Maybe it's time to visit him."

It took a few seconds before River realized this was Volke's way of inviting himself along.

"Are you even packed?" She asked, as the only thing the boy was carrying was his CD player.

Volke just shrugged and said, "I can make do."

River smiled in bemusement, but didn't say anything else to deter him as really, she would enjoy the company. "Come on then," River said. "Let's go visit your uncle."

* * *

Scarlet couldn't help but question the decision in her life that had led up to this moment. Her friend was brainwashed, she was too afraid of said brainwashed friend hurting her friends in the city to go see Preston, and she was traveling with two known assassins. If she'd told her past self this would happen, her past self would have laughed at her. She was actually having a hard time believing it even now, though part of that was probably sleep depravation - she hadn't slept much since Liliana had been brainwashed.

"Where do we start looking for this Starlight person?" Scarlet asked.

"Petalburg," Lucinda replied. She seemed a woman of few words, a stark contrast from her companion.

"In Hoenn?"

"Do you know any other Petalburgs?" Sky asked sarcastically.

"Shouldn't we be able to find a psychic Pokésoul here in Johto?" Scarlet wondered.

"Feel free to go door to door and ask around," Sky replied. "I doubt you'll have much luck though."

The girl's tone was condescending and rubbed Scarlet the wrong way, but she had to concede the point. Finding Pokésouls was hard in and of itself, finding specific element ones would likely take quite some time. And Scarlet wasn't sure how much time Liliana had.

"Your friend talk at all?" Sky asked.

"She did before," Scarlet said. "She's been quiet since we left the base. Liliana?"

Liliana blinked and turned to her. "Hello!" Liliana said. "Isn't today glorious?"

"That's weird," Sky remarked. "Just let her stay quiet." Scarlet silently agreed and continued herding Liliana ahead of her, Percy following sadly behind.

"We can rent flying Pokémon here," Lucinda said as they walked up to a storefront. Lucinda went inside while Scarlet, Liliana and Sky remained on the street. Sky grinned at Scarlet and Scarlet took a few steps away. On a normal girl the grin might have been comforting, on her it was a bit terrifying. Especially with the knives that were clearly visible strapped to her sides. Fortunately, Lucinda quickly returned a holding a Poké Ball.

She threw it and it released a Dragonite.

_Hello brother_, Clarissa greeted it.

The other Dragonite rumbled a response. "Is one Dragonite enough for all of us?" Scarlet asked.

Lucinda sent out a Staraptor and Sky sent out a Ditto which copied the Staraptor's form. "We've got our own rides," Sky said.

"I assumed you would ride on your own Dragonite," Lucinda added. "This one is to carry the Samurott."

_Are you rested enough_? Scarlet asked Clarissa.

_I can carry you and Liliana_, Clarissa replied. _He is nice, but I wouldn't have you ride on another Dragonite_.

_Thank you_.

"That'll work," Scarlet said aloud. Clarissa lowered herself to the ground so that Scarlet could push Liliana up onto the dragon's back. Scarlet followed, keeping the young girl secure with her arms. The doll state Lilian was in was disturbing, but it was certainly better than her fighting back or trying to escape so Scarlet hoped it lasted. Her assumption was that Razan had yet to give the girl any actual orders so she was just waiting for his command. Hopefully he had to be present to give commands, Scarlet wasn't at all certain how much power psychic Pokésouls had.

Lucinda and Sky mounted their own Pokémon as the borrowed Dragonite picked up Percy. "Let's go!" Sky announced. Her Ditto-turned-Staraptor took off, the others following after her.

* * *

**Yunyi's house**

"Are you sure you don't mind us staying here?" Starlight asked Yunyi.

The young girl shook her head vigorously. "It's usually just Devoir and I, it's nice to have company," she said quietly.

Eclipse let out a 'hmph' sound and Starlight glared at him. With a sigh, he conceded, "Thank you."

Yunyi nodded at him, clearly still a bit frightened of the intense boy. With the pirate look he had going, Starlight wasn't surprised.

"So are you going to tell me more about what it is you need me to do for you?" Starlight asked once Yunyi left to tend to her small garden. "Did your mother ever explain exactly how she was helping?"

"Not really," Eclipse replied.

"That's helpful," Starlight grumbled. "If I'm going to help, I'm going to need a better look."

"A better look at what? It's a problem with my bond."

"So I need a look at your mind," Starlight replied.

"What does that mean?" Eclipse asked, backing away from Starlight as she advanced towards him.

"I'm just going to look around in your head for a little while," Starlight replied.

"And see all my memories? I don't think so!"

"I won't see them if you don't think about them. Just think about rocks or something, and that's all I'll hear."

Eclipse continued backing away, clearly weighing his options. Eventually, he stopped and said, "Fine, but don't look at anything other than the bond."

"I won't!" Starlight promised.

* * *

Eclipse sat beside Starlight on the couch, his head turned towards her. Gardevoir stood behind, supporting Starlight mentally as Starlight reached hear hands towards Eclipse's head. She gently pressed her fingers to his temples and closed her eyes.

Every person's mind had different layers, the surface ones were the easiest to access, the things the person was thinking about at that moment and their emotions. Starlight ignored these (though she did note that he was indeed thinking about rocks).

_Igneous. Sedimentary__. What's the third one? Meta something_?

Underneath the surface, are the deeper memories, the ones that stay with you, Starlight stayed clear of these. For a psychic Pokésoul like her, it was considered the deepest possible invasion of privacy to look at these memories without permission. Most didn't even partake of the surface thoughts, though that was a less heinous act. Starlight herself had used the ability to her advantage on a few occasions, though she wasn't proud of it.

Most people had only these two layers, the surface and the deeper, but Pokésouls had a third facet. The bond with their partner. Starlight focused her attention on this.

_How long will this take? She's not looking too deeply is she_? Bits of Eclipses thoughts distracted her, she pushed them away.

The bond is an organic, living thing. This one is scarred, grown more strongly in the places where it was damaged. But how did it get damaged? How can that happen?

The scars seem to be the problem, the bond holding itself together in fear of another attack, unable to let go. Starlight would have to convince it to.

Gently, she prodded one of the scars with her mind. Eclipse jerked backward, disrupting her connection to his mind. On the floor Zoroark growled.

"Did that hurt?" Starlight asked anxiously.

"Don't do that," Eclipse said, rubbing his head as if it ached. "That felt weird."

"Sorry," she apologized. "I'm not sure how to help you though."

"Figure something out," he growled.

Starlight huffed in anger as the boy stalked outside, followed by the Zoroark.

_How do you think his bond got like that anyway_? Starlight wondered. _I've never seen one damaged like that before_. Even her sister's bond was healthy, and her sister had mental problems worse than Eclipse did.

_I'm not sure_, Gardevoir replied. _It is unusual. _

_Think he'll tell me if I ask?_

_Doubtful_.

Starlight sighed. "Is everything okay?" Yunyi asked, having entered the room while Starlight spoke with Gardevoir, drawn by the sound of the door slamming.

"Everything's fine," Starlight assured her.

"Something is wrong with him, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but he'll be okay. Hey, you're have a psychic partner too, can you tell what's wrong with him?"

Yunyi shook her head apologetically, "I don't have much experience looking at people's minds."

"Don't worry about it, I probably have too much."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Yunyi wondered.

"No... Actually, would you mind if I looked in your mind?"

"My mind? Why?"

"Looking at a healthy bond might give me some ideas, feel free to say no, I don't want to pressure you."

"You can look, I don't have anything I need to hide," Yunyi said. "And I trust you."

Starlight smiled warmly at the young girl and gestured for her to sit beside her on the couch. Yunyi sat and turned towards Starlight. Starlight put her fingers on the little girl's temples and gently entered the girl's mind.

Her mind was much more open than Eclipse's, none of the dark spaces or sharp thorns waiting to pierce her if she got too close. There was an undercurrent of sadness, Starlight caught glimpses of an unhappy orphanage, but her mind was mostly free of turmoil.

Starlight again pushed the memories and thoughts to the side, focusing on the bond. This meld was different from the last, as Yunyi was actually aware of Starlight in her mind, being a Psychic Pokésoul like herself. Starlight got the definite sense of Yunyi observing Starlight's actions as she examined the younger girl's bond with Devoir.

Their bond was a healthy one, like others Starlight had seen. It pulsed with life, binding two souls together as one.

Starlight gently nudged it with her mind, as she had done to Eclipse's, but this time there was no recoil and no flash of discomfort in her mind. After examining the bond for a few more minutes, she gently exited the girl's mind and removed her fingers from the girl's temples.

"Did that help?" Yunyi asked.

"A little," Starlight replied. "That you for trusting me."

"You have a kind mind," Yunyi said. "You feel trustworthy."

Starlight smiled at that. It wasn't often that she was able to speak to someone who could understand the world the same way she did. Even other Pokésouls couldn't really understand Psychic Pokésouls. "You have a nice mind too," Starlight said.

* * *

**Nature's Guardian's Base, high in the sky **

"Razan, we've lost Scarlet and your new puppet, Liliana," Erika informed her leader.

Razan shrugged. "It is of no consequence. Two girls won't stop us."

"Awfully full of yourself aren't you," Xero commented.

"If they didn't want to be here it's good they left isn't it?" Alex asked.

"I'd prefer they'd stayed, but it doesn't matter," Razan replied.

"I think we should strengthen our defenses," Erika said. "First the assassins escaped, now Scarlet."

"Are we running a prison now?" Alex asked, disgust in his tone.

"We can't let too many people leave, you know this," Razan reprimanded him. "Do as you will," he said to Erika.

Erika nodded to him and left.

"So, what boring mission do you have for us now?" Xero asked.

"I don't have one," Razan replied. "I think things are finally getting interesting and I need both of you here."

"So instead of traveling and getting nothing done, now I'm sitting here and getting nothing done," Alex grumbled. Razan sent him a quelling look and the man quieted down.

"Keep an eye out for dissenters," Razan said. "Other than that, just wait for my orders." After giving these commands, the leader left, followed by his faithful Hypno.

"Do you agree with any of this?" Alex wondered.

"I have my orders," Xero replied. "What does it matter if I agree with them?" He and his Aegislash walked out with those words leaving Alex alone with his Salamance, Mars.

Alex thought about following after the cold man, but Mars said, _Leave him_.

_He's such an arrogant jerk_, Alex complained.

_He is less of a problem than Razan. Something is not right with that man. _

_But his heart is in the right place isn't it? He wants equality for everyone. _

_So he says. His actions speak differently_.

Alex didn't respond to his Pokémon, but part of him was afraid Mars was right. Something about Razan was off. What if all this, all his work in this organization had been a mistake? He sighed and stood, leaving the room. It didn't matter now, he'd come this far and he'd see it through.


	22. Night in Lumiose

**Author Note:**

**Sorry nothing happens in this chapter. I find this kind of stuff easier to write so when I notice how late in the week it's getting this happens *sighs* I'll try to do better next week. **

* * *

Chapter 19: Night in Lumiose

* * *

Zyra liked the outside village more than the City, but it was still too close for her liking.

"It's so ugly," she mused.

"It is less pretty than the other places we've been," Nevin agreed.

"Wait, you're agreeing with me?" Zyra said surprised. "I thought you thought the city as amazing!"

"I do think it's amazing! I just think the Outerlands are more amazing!"

"So everywhere is amazing?" Christopher asked.

"Yes!"

Gina laughed, though she quickly stifled it under a cough.

"I think you're all morons," Wyvrn grumbled.

"I think you're a grouch," Gina muttered.

"What was that?" Wyvrn growled, turning on her.

"You're protecting her, remember?" Christopher reminded.

Wyvrn turned his glare to the unshaven boy. "I don't have to protect you."

"Uh, look the inn!" Nevin said, uncomfortable with the threats of violence.

"Yeah, you guys can stay there, I'm going to find a tree," Zyra said.

Nevin glanced between Zyra walking away and the other three and made a quick decision. He ran after the black haired girl.

"You told me you teach me how to sleep in a tree sometime, how about now?" Nevin asked.

"Sure," Zyra said. "Hey Gina, you want to come?"

"Uh no thanks," Gina replied. "I like beds."

"Suit yourself," Zyra said. "Come on Nevin."

Nevin doubted he'd get much sleep that night, but it had to be better than spending more time around Wyvrn. Nevin liked people, but even he had to admit that Wyvrn's presence was tiring.

* * *

"So Wyvrn," Gina began as she sat with the two men in the downstairs dining area of the inn. They didn't order food since they'd just eaten, but it was also an area for people to relax and none of them were very tired yet.

"Yes?" He replied warily.

"Why are you so angry all the time?"

"Because people are idiots," Wyvrn replied promptly.

"You're a person too," Christopher pointed out. "Doesn't that make you an idiot as well?"

"I'm more evolved than you low lives," Wyvrn growled.

"Really? It seems like we have better control of ourselves than you do," Gina replied. "I haven't had the urge to punch anyone lately, not even you."

"I haven't either," Christopher added. "Neither has Vieara." The Sneasel, who was standing at attention behind Christopher's chair, nodded in agreement.

Wyvrn opened his mouth to say something, likely venomous, when the innkeeper appeared at their table. "Would you all like some bread?" He asked. The man had been extremely helpful after seeing the golden badge Wyvrn wore. Christopher supposed the man thought being kind to a Guardian Force officer might get him more likely to move into the city. He'd be disappointed though, no way would Wyvrn help someone like that.

"No thank you," Wyvrn replied. "We already ate."

"Well if there's anything else I can get for you, please let me know!" The man bowed several times before going on his way to serve some of the other patrons.

_I wanted some bread_, Vieara whined.

_We can snag some off someone else's table_, Christopher assured. He felt the glee of the Sneasel in response.

"So you're both staying out here with me?" Gina asked.

"I've been ordered to protect you at all times, that includes night hours," Wyvrn replied.

"I'm just along for the ride," Christopher said with a grin. "Plus with the Guardian Force paying I get a free room which I never say no to."

"What is it like working for the Guardian Force?" Gina wondered. "We don't hear a lot about it in the Outerlands."

"They just ask me for info sometimes," Christopher said. "So I don't know much more than you."

"It's a job," Wyvrn said.

"Informative," Gina muttered.

"Better than jail," Wyvrn elaborated.

"That's a wonderful endorsement there," Gina said.

"He would know," Christopher said. "He was in prison."

"What? Really? And now he's working in law enforcement?"

"I was offered the position because of my skills," Wyvrn defended.

"By skills he means, being a Pokésoul," Christopher clarified.

"Ah," Gina said. "Is it really that rare? All of Nami's friends are Pokésouls."

Christopher shrugged. "I'm not sure what the exact percentage is, but it's not large. That said, it wasn't uncommon to see Pokésouls in the cities until pretty recently."

"They've been being forced to leave," Wyvrn added.

"But not either of you," Gina pointed out. "Or Wolf for that matter."

"I don't think they were ever really interested in getting rid of all the Pokésouls in the cities," Christopher replied. "That would have been pretty much impossible, and would have drawn too much attention. They just wanted there to be less of us."

"Why?" Gina wondered.

"That's one of the things we're hoping to find out," Wyvrn replied. Christopher and Gina traded small talk, with the occasional insult from Wyvrn, until the three went to bed, ready to begin the search for answers in the morning.

* * *

Zyra led Nevin and Typhlosion into the forest that bordered the city-town and Nevin began to feel slightly nervous. "It's a bit dark in here isn't it?" He said.

"It's not that bad," Zyra scoffed. "Look, there's some light coming from between the trees!"

Nevin looked up and there was indeed a sight light coming from up above, but it was not enough to light much of the forest floor. Typhlosion was providing more than the gap.

"You better make sure not to burn the forest down," Zyra said to Typhlosion.

Typhlosion grumbled, "I won't," at her, though Zyra wouldn't have understood.

Presumably, Darkfire translated for her as Zyra replied, "Good!"

The two walked deeper into the forest, and Nevin's misgivings grew. He pushed them aside though, as he decided that the dark was probably less scary than Wyvrn. As they continued onward, Nevin began to notice something. The Pokémon in the forest edged forward and peered at the two as they passed. After further inspection, Nevin realized it wasn't the two of them they were interested in, but Zyra in particular.

"Have you noticed..." Nevin began.

"Oh yeah, don't worry about it," Zyra said with a wave. "Pokémon like me!"

"Huh." Nevin supposed it was a side-effect of having lived in the forest with Pokémon her whole childhood. Nevin had never seen anything like it before.

_It's true_, Typhlosion said. _Something about her feels almost like one of us. _

_Is she a Pokémon_? Nevin wondered confused.

Typhlosion laughed. _No, but she would make a good one_.

"Alright!" Zyra declared suddenly. "This looks like a good spot!"

It looked exactly the same as the rest of the forest to Nevin, but he nodded anyway. Zyra quickly scrambled up a tree and was soon sitting on one of the sturdy branches, looking very much like she belonged there.

"So, I just climb one?" Nevin asked, looking at the large trees dubiously.

"It's easy!" Zyra assured. "Why don't you try that one?" She pointed to one of the larger trees that had branches fairly low to the ground. Nevin held on of them nervously and put some of his weight on it. It didn't budge. Feeling encouraged, he chanced lifting himself up onto it. It held.

"I'm in a tree!" Nevin exclaimed.

"Barely," Zyra said. "You have to get higher to really have the complete experience."

Nevin carefully made his way up two more branches, then stopped again. He decided it was high enough for his first tree nap. _Catch me if I fall_? He asked Typhlosion, a bit shakily.

_You're not that high up_, Typhlosion assured. _But I'll try_.

Nevin nodded gratefully and watched as the fire Pokémon settled itself underneath his tree. The Pokémon hadn't wanted to climb a tree, partly due to its constant flame and partly due to its rather small arms. In any case, it had decided the ground was a better option.

Nevin glanced up at Zyra to find the black haired girl already asleep, seemingly one with the tree. Pokémon gathered around her protectively, some adoringly, and Darkfire watched them impassively.

Sighing, Nevin leaned backwards until he was lying against the branch. He felt extremely unstable and hoped he wouldn't fall out in the middle of the night.

* * *

The sleeping arrangements in the home of Mira Lee were rather difficult to plan, as she lived on her own normally and only had one guest bedroom. Mira was,of course, staying in her own room while Kai and Christina were in the guest room which had two single beds (which were there in case her brother and sister ever decided to visit).

This left the three new comers to accommodate. Thankfully, Wolf and Kirtus had left as promised so it was only those three. "I don't have anymore beds," Mira said. "Or bedding."

"We can make due in here," Pecha assured, gesturing at Mira's living room. There were two couches that they could use and the rug looked pretty plush. It's not like the inns in the Outerlands had nice beds anyway.

"Good night then," Mira said, looking dubiously at the lack of sleeping ares before turning and going upstairs. Kai and Christina had already gone up.

"I don't mind taking the floor," Pecha offered. "I'm probably the most used to uncomfortable sleeping."

"Since Zyra's not here I suppose so," Nami agreed.

"I'm not sure I'll fit on this couch," Blake mused. He laid back and his feet stuck over the edge by several inches. "Maybe I should take the floor."

Ren, Zap and Yuki were in some sort of Pokémon pile off to the side. Nami looked at them with a fond smile on her face. "At least they look comfortable," she said.

"I'm a bit jealous," Pecha said. "I don't think I've ever slept as well as they are."

Blake, while trying to get comfortable on the couch, wiggled a big and ended up rolling straight off the couch. "Ow," he complained.

Nami giggled at him.

"Thanks for the concern," Blake grumbled, his voice muted due to the floor.

"Are you okay?" Nami asked, though ther concern was countermanded by her continued giggles.

"Fine," Blake grumbled.

"Maybe I _will_ take a couch then," Pecha said, trying to stop from joining Nami in laughing at the man.

Nami sat on Blake's couch and leaned back. She fit comfortably.

"Shorty," Blake grumbled as he shuffled across the floor to be near Ren.

Pecha, being slightly taller than Nami, fit less well, but her feet stopped clear of the edge. "This is nicer than my bed was in Cornflower," she mused. "Things really are nicer here."

"Up here they are," Nami said. "But the lower level isn't. Things there might even be worse than in the Outerlands."

"At least they're allowed to come up here though," Blake pointed out. "People in the Outerlands can't do that."

"That's true," Nami conceded.

"The lower level's that bad?" Pecha wondered.

"You'll probably see for yourself soon enough," Nami pointed out.

"I suppose so."

"Good night," Nami said as Blake turned the light off.

Blake and Pecha returned the sentiment and the trio eventually fell asleep, despite the less than ideal conditions.

* * *

In the dark shadows of Lumiose two figures lurked. Their voices were muted, though clear to each other.

"They'll be looking for us," Altair said. "Which will make it easy for _us_ to find _them_."

"What do we do when we find them?" Talon asked, a bit uncertain he wanted the answer.

"We get information from them then dispose of them," Altair replied. "Once we work our way through the Guardian Force there will be no one to stop us. The cities will belong to Nature's Guardians."


	23. Side Story: Kai and Mira

**Author's Note:**

**This takes place a few years ago, but when I was writing it I forgot they'd all be younger so ignore the part where Kai is servi alcoholic drinks at a young age, and Mira has a job... I guess people in this society just mature very quickly **

* * *

Side Story: How Kai Met Mira

* * *

_Lumiose, A couple years ago..._

Kai served drinks aimlessly as she watched the people in the bar. There hadn't been any activity in a while and she was getting bored. She'd come here to help the Guardian Force, but they didn't quite trust her yet. She didn't really trust them either, it was their fault Ken died, nothing would change that. If he hadn't tried to help them, he'd still be alive. But, Preston seemed to be a good person, so Kai had set aside her misgivings. However, they had only been giving her simple, pointless missions and she was getting bored. Time to take on some side work.

She flitted from table to table, listening for something, _anything_, interesting, but there was nothing. Just as despair began to set in, the door opened and someone unexpected came in. Preston and his wife Scarlet.

Kai quickly went to serve them before one of her coworkers could. "What can I get you?" Kai asked, acting like she didn't know them to keep her cover.

"Kai?" Preston, said, clearly not getting her message.

"Hi Kai," Scarlet said. "What do you have to eat here?"

"It's a bar, so... Not much. We have pretzels. What are you doing here anyway? This doesn't really seem like your scene." Kai kept her voice low so the other patrons wouldn't overhear.

"I wanted to try something different," Scarlet said. "We don't go out very much and it's boring," she sighed. "Not that I think you're boring!" She quickly assured Preston.

Preston just shook his head fondly and said, "Some of my colleagues said this was a good bar."

Kai shrugged. "There are a lot of criminals who drink here. That's why I chose it."

"That doesn't sound fun," Scarlet said, disappointment on her face.

"You might want to try somewhere else. There's a new restaurant down the street I've heard some nice things about," Kai suggested.

"No. We're here now, and we're going to like it," Scarlet said determined. Preston was clearly used to this and just nodded, not at all surprised at her choice.

"Give me whatever you want," Preston said. "I don't know what any of these drinks are."

"Too cheap for you rich boy?" Scarlet teased. "Though, I don't know what most of these are either..."

"None of these are from the Outerlands, so I'm not surprised," Kai said. "I'll get you something nice!" The wink she sent them made the couple both suddenly nervous.

"You're friends, right?" Scarlet asked. "She won't poison us?"

"She won't give us anything we won't recover from," Preston said, though his voice was slightly uncertain.

Kai slipped happily up to the bar and put in an order for a Croagunk Surprise and a Lumiose Sunrise. The Croagunk Surprise was one of the highest alcohol content drinks they had. Kai couldn't wait to see what a drunk Preston looked like. She giggled a bit as she took the drinks (the Lumiose Sunrise was less intense, Preston would forgive her for messing with him, but he'd be much less forgiving if she did anything to Scarlet).

As she stood by the bar, she heard something interesting. Two men were standing at the bar (both rather unattractive, but Kai decided that wasn't important) talking about the new dancing troupe. Kai had heard some about them herself. Apparently they were extremely talented and had been making large amounts of money, partly because of their vow to give most of it to charity.

"Have you heard of the new troupe?" Man one, who Kai dubbed, grease hair, said.

"Of course," man two, now known as fat man. "What about them?"

"Word on the street is there's a lot of money in it," great hair replied.

Fat man scoffed. "They give the money to charity." The drinks arrived and Kai fiddled with them, adding lemons and umbrellas to give herself more time to eavesdrop.

"So they say," grease hair said. "The charity, isn't really a charity, if you get my drift."

Kai couldn't remain any longer without it becoming strange, so she reluctantly left. She'd be looking into that though. Finally something interesting to do.

"Here you are," she said as she delivered the drinks to Scarlet and Preston.

Scarlet took her Lumiose Sunrise and gave it a sip. "This is nice!" She said, sounding a bit surprised.

"You didn't think I'd give you something bad did you?" Kai asked, arranging her features into a look of shock.

Preston snorted and looked suspiciously at his own drink. He cautiously took a sip and almost spit it out. He managed to choke it down and glared at Kai as she stared innocently at him. "That is terrible," he said.

"People here seem to like them," Kai replied.

"Want some of mine?" Scarlet offered.

"No, you have it. I'll just have some pretzels," Preston replied. He glared at the glass pointedly until Kai took the offending thing away, though she sent a cheeky glance back at them.

Kai went to get the pretzels, and as she was coming back to her friends' table, she saw grease hair leaving. Acting quickly, she bumped into him and fell down, pretzels flying everywhere.

"I'm sorry," grease hair said.

"No, it was my fault," Kai assured. "I'm sorry." She smiled innocently at him and began cleaning up the pretzels. He began helping, as she'd hoped, and when he was distracted she snagged his wallet, found out his name, and replaced it before he could notice. They finished cleaning up the pretzels and she said goodbye, apologizing again.

She got a fresh plate of pretzels and brought them to Preston, thinking about grease hair, or Edgar Rollins, as his ID named him.

"What did he do?" Preston asked as Kai put the pretzels down.

"I just bumped into him," Kai said, faux-innocence at maximum. Preston was not impressed.

"This bar is fun," Scarlet said.

"All the same I think we'll try somewhere else next time you want to go out," Preston remarked.

"Can't blame you for that," Kai laughed. The rest of the night was uneventful, as Preston and Scarlet soon left and there was no more interesting gossip to be heard.

* * *

The next morning, Kai began her research. Edgar Rollins was on the board of the charity the dancing troupe donated to. It was called the Kindness Charity, which in and of itself seemed suspicious. You only name your charity something like that if you're actually evil. After a while of searching around she still couldn't find any records of the charity funds, so she decided to focus on the dancing troupe itself.

The troupe was called the Sword Dancers, though it had nothing to do with swords and was simply named after the Pokémon move. There was no clear indication of where the money went either (other than to the charity), so Kai was going to have to get a look physically.

She had the night off at the bar, so Kai decided no time like the present and got tickets. That night saw her waiting at the doors, eagerly waiting the start.

"Kai?"

Kai turned. "Preston and Scarlet? Again?"

"What are you doing here?" Preston demanded. "This doesn't seem like your usual scene."

"Maybe she likes dancers," Scarlet suggested.

"That's it," Kai said, pointing at Scarlet. "Just ignore me, I won't bother you," Kai promised.

Preston clearly wasn't convinced, but Scarlet was. "Come on Preston," Scarlet said, dragging her husband off as he glared suspiciously back at Kai. Kai would have told Preston about her suspicions, but she wasn't really supposed to be investigating things other than what the Guardian Force told her to and she didn't trust Preston to keep it a secret. He was a bit of a stickler for rules. Good in some instances, not in this one.

Kai picked a seat as close to the door to the stage as she could get, she was hoping to accost one of the dancers after the show. Despite herself, Kai found herself watching and was impressed by the performers. They were clearly all amazingly talented and Kai was disappointed that their talent was probably being taken advantage of.

The show ended and Kai loitered by the stage door until one of the dancers came out. It was a young girl with mint green hair followed by a Ralts.

"Hi there," Kai greeted.

"Oh, hello," the girl said, clearly surprised to be addressed.

"You're one of the dancers right? Nice show."

"Thank you, I'm Mira, this is Kira." The Ralts made an introductory sound.

"I'm Kai. Nice to meet you both! There's something I was hoping you could help me with."

"Help you with what?" Mira asked, slightly suspicious.

"I'm worried your boss might not actually be giving money to charity."

"He's not? Why would he lie?" She looked genuinely confused and Kai felt a bit bad. She'd had her innocence ripped away at a young age by her brother's death, she didn't really want to be the one to open other's eyes to the darkness of people, but she supposed it was inevitable.

"He's keeping it for himself," Kai told her.

"But you're not sure, right?" Mira said.

"I'm not, that's why I need your help." Mira shared a long look with her Ralts, they were probably having a mental conversation.

"Okay, we'll help you," Mira said.

"Thank you. Come on, let's go talk." Kai led Mira down the street to a little diner Kai liked going to. She gestured for Kira and Mira to have a seat and sat across from her.

"So what do you want us to do?" Mira asked.

"We need to catch him in the act," Kai said. "I need to see what he does with the money. If you can get me backstage, I can do the rest."

"Hmm," Mira looked thoughtful for a few moments, then nodded. "I can get you backstage. We can say you're my cousin."

"Great," Kai said with a grin.

"Kai, is that you...again?" Kai turned to see Preston and Scarlet walking past her table.

"I was here first!" Kai defended. "I think you two are stalking me."

"I guess we just like the same things," Scarlet said. "Who's you're friend?"

"Aren't you one of the dancers?" Preston asked suspiciously.

Mira nodded. "I'm Mira Lee. You were at the show?"

"Yes, you were amazing!" Scarlet praised.

"Thank you," Mira said, her face turning slightly pink from embarrassment.

"And you just happen to be eating with one of the dancers," Preston said dryly.

"We're friends," Mira said.

Kai sent her a grateful glance and said, "Yeah, we're friends."

Preston sighed and said, "Whatever, just don't cause too much trouble."

"I make no promises," Kai replied.

"Bye Kai, nice to meet you Mira," Scarlet said as she and Preston walked off.

"Thanks for covering for me, though why did you?" Kai wondered. "We just met."

"I'm a Psychic Pokésoul," Mira replied. "I can feel people's minds. And yours feels nice. Though a bit devious, but in a good way, if that makes sense."

"That makes perfect sense," Kai said with a grin. "What about your boss, what's his mind like?"

"Clouded. I don't feel malice, but I don't feel kindness either."

The two enjoyed the rest of their meal getting to know each other and generally having a good time. Kai hadn't been interested in talking to as many people after her brother and the experience reminded her how much she missed meeting new people.

* * *

After the buildup, catching the guy turned out to be rather anticlimactic. Mira snuck Kai in and Kai saw the leader basically stuffing bags of money into his pockets. He was arrested and Kai became bored once again.

A few days after the takedown, Kai went back to the bar and found Mira and Kira sitting in the booth they had the night Kai met them.

"Hi there," Kai greeted.

"Kai!" Mira said, her face lighting up. "Want to sit with us?"

Kai smiled back and sat across from the duo. "How are you?"

"Well, the Sword Dancers are over," Mira said.

"What?" Kai said surprised. "Didn't you just get a new director?"

"No one could agree on who should be in charge and it turned into a huge fight so we split up."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kai said.

"It's not your fault. I mean, maybe it is a bit, but I wouldn't have wanted to work with them anymore if I knew the money was going to a greedy man."

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Kai asked. "I know some people."

"No, I'm going to join the arts studio," Mira replied. "Whenever they need an extra dancer I can fill in."

"As long as you're happy," Kai said.

"It'll do for now," Mira said. "As long as I can dance I'm happy."

"Want to hang out again tomorrow?" Kai asked.

"Yeah that'd be nice," Mira replied. "I don't know many people here yet."

"Well now you know me," Kai said. "And we're going to be great friends."

This turned out being true, though Mira did at times regret their association (such as when Kai showed up with several guests with no prior warning) but through everything the two remained best friends.

* * *

**End Note:**

**Anyway, there was never really going to be a point in the story where anyone talks about this more than they already have, but hopefully this explains their friendship a bit. I know the criminal explanation was weak, but the crime really wasn't the point of this so I couldn't be bothered to make it better.**

**Sorry again about not having a new part of the actual story, I'll try to write something this week...**


	24. Investigation Time

**Author's Note:**

**This chapters all over the place, sorry. But I spent some time doing some major outlining so hopefully the story will pull itself together a bit now **

**Thank you guys so much for all the supportive reviews, they really make me feel better! I love you guys! **

* * *

Chapter 20: Investigation Time

* * *

Nevin was woken by something hitting his head. Or was it the other way around? Blearily, he opened his eyes to find himself face first in the dirt.

_Oops, I forgot to catch you_, Typhlosion said, the fire Pokémon's head appearing in Nevin's field of vision.

_I'm okay_, Nevin assured. _What time is it_? He pushed himself up into a sitting position and noted that the forest was brighter than when he'd gone to sleep.

_It's morning_, Typhlosion said. _You slept for a surprisingly long time_.

_My whole body hurts_, Nevin moaned, though he still had a smile on his face. _It was a good experience though_!

"Morning Nevin!" Zyra said as she swung out of a tree and appeared in front of him. Leaves were stuck in her hair and there were berries and fruits poking out of the top of her bag. "I brought breakfast!" she announced, thrusting the bag towards him.

Nevin reflexively grabbed the fruit on top and suddenly realized he was rather hungry. He bit into it and found it to be sweet. "This is good!" Nevin exclaimed.

Zyra bowed slightly, a satisfied smirk on her face.

Typhlosion had forgone using his paws deciding to stick his entire face into the bag instead. Happy munching sounds could be heard as he devoured the offerings.

"I guess he was hungry," Zyra commented, watching the fire Pokémon. Darkfire turned her nose up at the Typhlosion and delicately ate one of the berries that had fallen out of the pack.

"Guess so," Nevin agreed, finishing off the fruit. "We should go to the inn and make sure Gina's alright."

Zyra nodded. At this point, Typhlosion had finished off the fruit and was trying to climb inside the bag to look for more. "Come on Typhlosion," Nevin said. Typhlosion reluctantly took his head out of the bag and went to stand beside Nevin.

Zyra reclaimed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. They walked back through the woods, which were much less scary in the daytime, and soon found themselves at the inn. Zyra stood before the doors unmoving, until Nevin finally walked around her and opened the door himself. Nevin walked inside and assumed Zyra would eventually follow him. She did, though she grumbled the entire time about how evil walls are.

"Hi guys!" Gina said, her voice so loud she was practically yelling.

"Hi!" Nevin replied in turn, grinning at her. She was sitting in a booth next to Christopher, Wyvrn sat across from them, his arms folded over his chest as he glared at the table.

Nevin pulled up a chair and sat at the edge of the table, because there was no way he was sitting next to Wyvrn. Zyra apparently, did not have this restriction and sat in the booth next to Wyvrn.

Wyvrn glared at her, and when she failed to be intimidated he shifted slightly over to be further away from her as if she were covered in slime.

"So what are we doing today?" Nevin asked brightly.

"_We _are going to investigate," Wyvrn said. "You can do whatever it is you do."

"You can come with us if you'd like," Gina offered.

Zyra and Nevin shared a look, and she shrugged.

"I think we'll just explore," Zyra said, probably upon noticing the rather fearsome glare Wyvrn was sending them.

"That's probably for the best," Gina sighed.

"We should go," Wyvrn said, pushing Zyra off the bench so he could get out. Zyra landed in a crouch and glared at him.

"Sorry," Christopher said, helping her up as he walked past. Zyra suspiciously accepted his help and returned to her seat.

"I'll see you guys later!" Gina exclaimed as she followed the two men out of the inn.

"See ya!" Nevin replied with a wave. "So what do you want to do?" He asked once they were out of sight. "Should we go check on Nami and Pecha?"

"I suppose we might as well," Zyra agreed. The two left the table and headed for the gates.

* * *

Blake awoke feeling rather unrested. His body ached from being on the floor the whole night and there was a pressure on his stomach that was quickly becoming too heavy. The cause as Ren, who had laid his head down on Blake's stomach at some point during the night. The Houndoom was still asleep, so Blake gently moved the Pokémon's face onto the floor. He snuffled and shifted, but didn't seem to wake.

Nami and Pecha were both out of the room already, so Blake went to find them. He found them both in the kitchen, eating some of their left over travel rations (so as not to burden Mira any further).

"Good morning," he said.

The two returned the greeting. "How was the floor?" Nami asked teasingly.

"Great," Blake replied sarcastically. "What are we doing today anyway?"

"Good of you to ask!" A cheerful voice replied. Kai swept in, grinning at the three as she grabbed some cereal. "We're trying to track down Altair, but we don't know where she is. You have any ideas?"

"No," Blake said. "Why would I? I've never even met her."

"Well you're part of Nature's Guardians, so how do they work?"

"He _was_ a part," Nami corrected. "And he already said he wasn't a high ranking member. They didn't tell him the plan."

"Just checking," Kai replied, grinning at the other girl.

"Since he doesn't have any clue, where do you plan to look?" Pecha asked.

"I'll be staying here and using my, totally legal, resources while you go off and look for clues."

* * *

Inside the city, Gina, Wyvrn and Christopher were already beginning their investigation.

"Where do we look?" Gina wondered.

"Where do you think?" Wyvrn asked.

"I don't know, that's why I asked," Gina grumbled.

"Can't you tell anything with your foul magic?"

"I think calling her magic foul while you're asking her for a favor is a bit much," Christopher pointed out.

"It's illegal," Wyvrn growled.

"So's punching people. I know you do that."

"Not anymore," Wyvrn replied, though it was a bit weak.

"So. Where are we checking first?" Christopher asked, bringing back Gina's original point. Vieara followed behind him, busily shoving pieces of bread into her mouth.

"When did you buy that bread?" Gina wondered as she gazed at Vieara.

"Where are we going?" Christopher said, quickly changing the subject. He'd rather not be caught out for stealing.

"The lower levels," Wyvrn replied. "If they want to hide, down there would be the best place." Christopher nodded in agreement.

"Why is that?" Gina asked, head tilting to the side curiously.

"It's not really noticeable, but there are actually a lot of security cameras around up here," Christopher replied. Gina looked around, but she didn't see any. "They're hidden," Christopher explained. "And they aren't ideal for finding people because of the sheer amount of data, but I think it still would make them more likely to set up base in the lower level."

"There aren't cameras down there?" Gina wondered.

"Not as many," Wyvrn replied. "There's also less to steal."

"Most of the crimes are actually committed up here," Christopher added. "Since crimes are mostly theft, they occur more often up here. Violent crimes happen more often up here as well. The lower levels actually pretty safe, despite its looks."

Gina nodded in understanding at the trio made their way to the elevators.

* * *

Altair and Talon waited in the abandoned building they had designated as their hideout. Altair paced and Talon watched. "It's taking them too long to find us," Altair said, finally breaking the silence.

"What should we do?" Talon wondered.

"If they can't find us, let's go find them," Altair said.

"Altair," a voice at the door said. Talon, in the process of standing up, was so surprised he fell over.

"Xero," Altair returned, ignoring her clumsy subordinate. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back at the base with Alex being useless?"

"Razan though you might need some backup. Things have been going slowly," Xero replied. Talon got to his feet and tried to be as still as possible, emulating a statue.

"I don't need backup," Altair spat. "I can handle this. I'm just waiting for the Guardian Force to show up, then I can take them down."

"Since I'm here anyway I might as well assist," Xero pointed out.

"Do whatever you want. Talon, let's go."

Talon quickly ran out of the building, following Altair leaving Xero and his Aegislash staring contemplatively at the walls.

* * *

Wyvrn, Gina and Christopher walked two alleys down from the one Altair and Talon now stalked, both parties searching for, and completely missing, the other.

As Wyvrn's party walked down the street, they stopped inside abandoned and run down buildings. They assumed Altair would be hiding in one of these, as they were common in the lower level and usually overlooked. It wasn't even uncommon for people to be going in and out of them as homeless people often took refuge in them. Wyvrn opened the door to one such building and walked inside. The others followed. As soon as Gina and Christopher crossed the threshold, the door suddenly slammed shut, nearly leaving Vieara outside.

"I didn't close that," Gina said nervously.

Christopher tried the door handle, but it didn't budge. "It's locked," he said.

"Let me," Wyvrn said, pushing the others out of the way. As Christopher had said, the door was locked. Wyvrn pushed against it a few times, but the door seemed sturdy.

"Out of the way," Christopher warned. Wyvrn had no sooner stepped away then Vieara was lunging at the door, claws ready to shred. But the door remained unscathed even after a full on assault. Christopher told his partner to stop before she tired herself out.

"It's magical," Gina said before Wyvrn could try anything else. "It was a magical trap. It closed behind us and now we're stuck in here."

"You're a mage. Open it," Wyvrn commanded.

"I can't," Gina said apologetically. "Whoever did this is a much stronger magician than I am. I have no idea how to counter this."

"Then why are you even here?" Wyvrn growled.

"I was supposed to help _look_ for them, not actually fight them!" Gina replied.

"Calm down," Christopher said, getting between them. "There's got to be a back door or something, right?"

Wyvrn glared at Gina (who glared right back) for a moment, then turned away. "Fine. Let's look for another door."

"It's possible the back door will be locked as well," Gina warned. "But every spell like this has a focus. Some object in here is focusing the spells power, so if we destroy that, the door will unlock."

"So if we can't get out in a normal way we can just start breaking everything," Christopher surmised. "That sounds like something Wyvrn will enjoy."

"Perhaps I'll start with you," Wyvrn growled.

"What about your communication devices?" Gina asked, not bothered by Wyvrn's threats anymore. "Could we get help? The door should open from the outside."

Wyvrn, being the only one of the three with a phone, pulled his out and scowled at it. "No reception," he said.

"Does that mean it isn't working?" Gina wondered.

"Yeah," Christopher replied. "Signal's usually weak in the lower level and out here in the abandoned area I guess it's non-existent. Looks like it's up to us to get ourselves out of this. So let's try to get along, right?" Christopher looked pointedly at Wyvrn who huffed but nodded. Kadabra nodded alongside him and Gina looked determined.

"We're going to get out of here!" Gina announced.

"That's the spirit," Christopher said with a grin as the three began searching the building, hoping the way out would be easy to find. They might have a truce now, but if they were stuck for too long Wyvrn might lose it.

* * *

It was decided that Kai would look for Altair the best way she knew how (on her computer of course) while Christina, Nami, Blake and Pecha looked around the upper level. Wolf and Kirtus were looking around the lower level. The obvious flaw in this plan was that no one in Christina's group had actually lived in the upper lever. It didn't help that Pecha was reading her father's journal instead of paying attention to where she was going, so Nami had to keep grabbing her before she ended up going the wrong way or walking into the street.

"This is pointless," Blake said after a while. "None of us have any idea where we're going and even if something strange showed up we probably wouldn't notice."

"You two live on the upper level though don't you?" Christina said.

"Of a different city," Nami replied. "They look similar, but they aren't the same."

"Kai said it was most likely that they're hiding on the lower level anyway," Pecha said, her eyes never leaving her book.

"So what do we do then?" Christina demanded. "Stand around reading?"

"It's more productive than walking aimlessly," Pecha said, gaze finally leaving the book to glare at Christina.

"Arguing is more pointless than either," Nami interrupted before they could start an argument.

* * *

"It's been a while since I went traveling," River mused aloud as she and Volke ambled down the road. She lifted her gaze to the bright blue sky and sighed in contentment. Mist floated around her head in lazy circles, similarly satisfied.

"You traveled before?" Volke asked. He seemed less interested in the journey than River, merely staring at his feet, sparing a glance every so often for his traveling companion. Volt was apparently asleep inside the CD player.

"Yep," River replied. "I was really poor for a long time. Mist and I traveled the world and took whatever jobs we could get. I don't miss being poor, but I do miss traveling. What about you?"

Volke shrugged. "I stay in places until I get bored of them."

"So you're not bored of Azalea yet?" River wondered. It didn't seem like there could be much there of interest to him. There certainly wasn't to her, but that was kind of the point. After all her wandering, she wanted to put her home base in a place where she could relax.

Volke shrugged. "It has some interesting people living there," he finally said.

"I suppose it does," River agreed, eyeing the man next to her. She certainly hadn't expected to meet someone like him in a sleepy town like Azalea.

They continued on their way to the city in companionable silence.


	25. The Strongest Bond

**Author's Note:**

**Here's the new chapter! I hope you all enjoy it and thanks for bearing with the longer wait times! :D**

* * *

Chapter 21: The Strongest Bond

* * *

Scarlet was uncomfortable traveling with Lucinda and Sky, but she really had no choice at this point. She just hoped that Liliana would be lucid enough to fight against them if battle became necessary. Either way, Percy would help so Scarlet supposed she could at least count on that, though against two well trained assassins it didn't count for all that much.

"So Scaaarlet," Sky began, drawing Scarlet's name out. "How'd you end up marrying a Guardian Force officer anyway? Aren't they all boring and rule abiding?"

"Not everyone views rule-abiding as a personality flaw," Scarlet replied. "And no, he's not boring."

"He seemed boring to me," Sky said. "Right Red?" Lucinda didn't bother to respond to that. "She agrees with me," Sky assured.

"Right..." Scarlet said. "How are we going to find the Psychic Pokésoul you know?"

"Magic," Sky said blithely. At Scarlet's unimpressed look, Sky grinned. "No really! We're going to use magic! Lucinda's gonna try using a locater spell."

"Oh," Scarlet replied, surprised. "You can do that?"

"I can't directly track her since I don't have an object that belonged to her, but I can find Pokésouls in general. There shouldn't be many out here," Lucinda explained.

"There's not that many people in general out here," Sky pointed out, gesturing to the wilderness around them.

They'd landed a ways away from Petalburg, wanting to avoid drawing undue attention to themselves and were now walking towards the town. "Here should be close enough," Lucinda said, stopping. Sky walked a bit further to lean against a tree, Locke taking up position beside her. Scarlet grabbed onto Liliana's wrist to keep the girl still and watched Lucinda.

Lucinda rooted around in her bag and pulled out some delicate flower petals and a few herbs that Scarlet recognized as being fairly common spell ingredients. Scarlet made sure to watch Lucinda carefully, so that she might be able to replicate the spell herself if she needed to. Scarlet's own knowledge of magic was mostly healing related, though she knew her fair share of other spells as well, but this particular spell was an unknown to her.

Lucinda carefully drew a small symbol in the dirt and threw the bundle of plants into the center, saying, "Find," in a firm voice.

"Anything?" Sky asked, head cocked to the side.

"That way," Lucinda said, pointing in a direction away from Petalburg. "There is definitely a Pokésoul in that direction, possibly more."

"If it's more that means Zoroark boy's still with her," Sky said.

"Is that a problem?" Scarlet asked, wondering who Zoroark boy was supposed to be.

"Nah, we can handle him if we need to," Sky said with a derisive wave of her hand.

Lucinda nodded in agreement. "Well, let's go then," Scarlet said. Sky rolled her eyes, but lead the way in the direction Lucinda had indicated. Lucinda took a second to rub away the symbol, then followed after.

* * *

River and Volke arrived in the City-Town of Goldenrod late in the evening. They agreed it would be best to spend the night there and attempt to get inside the city proper in the morning. This decided, the two sat in the inn, having found a corner mostly away from the other patrons so that they could talk without having to yell.

"Getting in to the city may be slightly difficult," River mused as she tore up pieces of bread and handed them to Mist. Mist was then taking those pieces and dropping them on people's plates. The frightened gasps as bread appeared seemingly from nowhere made the ghost Pokémon rather gleeful.

"I have family that lives there, they might be able to get us in," Volke said. Volt was out of his CD player (which sat beside Volke on the bench) and was playing with the bowl of soup sitting in front of it. River wasn't sure if it was actually eating it or not, but it didn't really matter. As long as he was happy it was fine.

"Really?" River said surprised. "How do you have family in the city?" It was very uncommon for people in the Outerlands to have families in the city. Not unless they were originally from there themselves.

"My parents were born there," Volke said, his voice sounding a bit detached. "They were exiled for using magic before I was born."

"Oh," River said, not sure what else to say.

"My uncle and aunt still live there though."

"Do you know them very well?" River wondered. She didn't mean to pry, but she needed to know. If they didn't know him well she imagined his family would be a bit suspicious of a man claiming to be their long lost nephew. River certainly would be.

"I don't see them a lot, but we get along," Volke replied.

"It's good to know they're there, but I think I'll try contacting the Guardian Force first," River said. "Your uncle can probably get you in for a while, but I doubt he can get both of us inside."

Volke shrugged. "He's gotten me in before. I've never tried to bring anyone else though."

Mist returned at some point and popped out of the soup bowl, scaring Volt who knocked the bowl over, pouring the contents all over Volke. Volke sent his partner an annoyed look. Volt jumped into the bowl to tackle Mist, who quickly vanished and reappeared by River's head.

"We'll go clean up," Volke said, picking up his soggy partner. He walked away, leaving a trail of soup behind them. River got up as well, as there was no point in staying down here without company, and grabbed her bag. She noticed Voke's CD player, which he probably left there so it wouldn't get drenched in soup, and picked it up as well. She'd give it back to him in the morning.

* * *

Starlight lay down on the couch as she pondered the mystery of Eclipse. What could have happened to make his bond that way? She'd never seen anything like it before. Gardevoir had no more idea than Starlight, though they'd spent most of their life together so that wasn't too surprising. It was very tempting to sneak a peek into his mind next time she tried to help, but she would never do that, not without his permission.

_I just want to know_! She complained to Gardevoir. Starlight wasn't used to secrets. Everyone in her hometown knew about her gifts and honored, almost revered her. They told her their secrets and asked for her advice, so meeting someone as reticent and untrusting as Eclipse was extremely annoying.

_With time I'm sure the answers will appear_, Gardevoir said calmly. Starlight sent a feeling of annoyance towards the Psychic type.

The door opened suddenly, shattering the silence with a loud bang. Starlight rolled off the couch onto her feet. Eclipse stood out of breath in the doorway. "We need to leave," he said.

"Why?" Starlight asked. Yunyi had been drawn by the sound and was staring at the two older people, confused.

"The assassins are back," Eclipse explained.

"What?" Starlight gasped. She ran for the door. "We need to go then!"

"Too late," said a smug voice. Starlight stopped had began stepping backwards as she recognized the tall woman and short girl behind Eclipse from the night she's been attacked.

"I thought you let me go," Starlight said quietly.

"We're totally off that job," the small assassin said, pushing Eclipse roughly out of her way as she came inside. "It was a stupid job anyway. Now we just want to talk." She grinned at Starlight, though even her smile did little to dispel the dangerous aura around the girl.

The taller one entered as well and added, "We aren't actually the ones who want to tale with you." Starlight noticed then that they weren't alone. Another tall woman, though not quite as towering as the mercenary, was standing at the doorway along with a younger girl.

"What do you want to talk about?" Eclipse demanded, glaring at the small assassin, apparently ignoring her earlier statement.

"None of your business. Why don't you go outside and let the grown-ups talk?" The young assassin replied. Barring the fact that this statement was coming from a girl several years younger than him, it clearly triggered something in Eclipse and he glared at her. Starlight just hoped he continued to stare with the eyepatch _on_.

"I wanted to ask the Psychic Pokésoul for a favor," said the blonde woman at the door. "I hired Sky and Lucinda to bring me here."

"Sky and Lucinda?" Yunyi repeated, sounding very overwhelmed.

"Sky Mayfly," the tiny assassin said, taking a bow. "The strong silent one there is Lucinda."

Lucinda gave a small nod and leaned back against one of the walls.

"I'm Scarlet," the blonde woman said. "And I'm sorry to trouble you like this, but it's urgent." The other girl stood silently behind Scarlet and Starlight glanced at her curiously. "This is Liliana," Scarlet said, pushing the younger girl forward.

"Hi there!" Liliana said, her smile strangely large.

"She's been brainwashed," Scarlet added.

"Brainwashed?" Starlight repeated. She cautiously stepped closer to the girl, careful to stay as far away from the assassins as she could.

"If those two have done their job can't they leave now?" Eclipse demanded, still glaring at Sky.

"We haven't gotten paid yet," Sky replied. "Besides, I want to see what happens."

Scarlet herded Liliana further into the room and led her to the couch in the center of the room. The door remained open and Starlight saw it blocked by a mass of blue and orange. _A Samurott and a Dragonite_, Gardevoir explained.

"Is Liliana a Pokésoul?" Starlight asked.

"Yes," Scarlet replied. "Percy the Samurott is her partner, but he hasn't been able to feel her presence since she was brainwashed."

"That's not too surprising," Starlight said. "The bond is still there though and that should help me bring her back."

Liliana sat down on the couch and Starlight sat next to her, mirroring the situation she'd had with Eclipse and then Yunyi the other day. "Usually I ask for permission, but I guess she can't really give it to me now," Starlight sighed.

"Just stay out of her private thoughts if you can," Scarlet said. "But I'm sure she'd rather have you in her head than be a mindless puppet forever."

Starlight nodded, then brought her right hand up to gently place her fingers on the younger girl's forehead. It was instantly clear that something had been done to the girl's mind, her thoughts were very repetitive and extremely focused on someone named Razan. Starlight assumed him to be the one who'd brainwashed her, but she wasn't sure. Luckily, whatever had been done to her seemed to have been done in a rush, as it was rough. This would make it easier to fix.

_Liliana_? Starlight called out with her mind. The brainwashing hadn't actually changed Liliana's personality at all, that would have taken a long time to do. No, Liliana herself, her essence, or soul, was buried deep inside her, trapped underneath the compulsion that had been inflicted on her.

Starlight's query drew no response, but that wasn't too surprising. Starlight batted away the clearly mind controlled thoughts and looked deeper, to find some part of the real Liliana. A faint, glowing thread drifted by and Starlight quickly grasped it.

_Her bond with Percy_, Gardevoir said.

_It must be_, Starlight replied. It seemed inactive, likely because Liliana herself wasn't entirely active, but it was still healthy. It was in better shape than Eclipse's which was surprising. Whatever happened to him must have been truly awful. Pushing thoughts of the boy to the side for now, Starlight grasped the thread with her mental hands and followed it down into the depths of Liliana's mind. Starlight would be careful not to dig around, but it was inevitable that she would see some things.

Memories played around her, like flickering TV screens. Faint images of a warm tavern and two older people who must be Liliana's parents. Percy featured often as well, growing from a Oshawott into a Dewott, then finally the Samurott state he was in now. Several fights went on, mostly friendly, with Liliana seemingly the victor of most of them. These memories surrounded Starlight and she began to feel a bit confused. She'd never been this far inside of a person's mind before.

_I'm here_, Gardevoir assured her. The warm feeling her Pokémon sent her helped her recenter herself, and Starlight took a deep breath, then continued forward, trying not to look a the scenes around her.

Following the bond, she finally reached a door. Starlight reached forward and opened it. Lilliana was inside, but the expression on her face was much darker than the one her body currently wore. "Who are you?" Liliana demanded.

Starlight was instantly certain that this was the real one. "My name is Starlight," Starlight replied. "I've come to help you."

"I didn't ask for help."

"Well, you couldn't, not as you are," Starlight pointed out delicately.

"Why would I trust you anyway? You could be Razan trying to trick me!"

"I'm not!" Starlight said. "I can prove it!" Starlight said this before she actually had a plan for doing so. Then she remembered the blue thread that was still in her hand. "Take this!" Starlight thrust the thread at Liliana, who glared back suspiciously. "This is your bond to Percy, take it and you can talk to him. He'll tell you who I am."

Liliana's expression flickered a bit at the mention of Percy, hope flashing briefly, but still she hesitated. She took one more look at the bond, then finally grasped it. The faint blue suddenly burst to life, blinding Starlight's spirit eyes briefly. Around her the walls disappeared and they were pulled to the surface of Liliana's mind, Starlight being pulled along by her grip on the thread, which was rapidly growing in size. They reached the cloud of confusion Razan had left and it was dissipated by the bond's brilliant strength.

"Thank you," Liliana said quietly. "Now get out of my head!"

"Uh, right." Starlight retreated back into her own mind and opened her eyes. She backed away from Liliana, based on the girl's prickly self in her mind, Starlight assumed she wouldn't like being crowded.

"Did you fix her?" Scarlet asked anxiously.

Liliana's eyes opened and she looked around her, a confused expression on her face. "Where are we?" she wondered.

"You're back to normal?" Scarlet asked.

"I think so," Liliana replied. "I don't have any desire to fulfill Razan's wishes, so I think I'm better. I don't remember anything that happened though."

"I'm so sorry!" Scarlet blurted. "It's my fault that that happened to you!"

"No it isn't," Liliana replied. "I made my choice myself and I accept the consequences of my actions. But I... I didn't do anything too weird did I?" She acted all confident, but it was clear the experience had shaken her up a bit. Though with the memory loss it was actually less bad than it could have been. Seeing her body doing things and saying things without her permission would probably have been more psychologically damaging, so Starlight was thankful she wasn't aware under the brainwashing.

"Uh... No! Nothing weird!" Scarlet assured.

"Yeah, that was convincing," Liliana growled. Her gaze turned to the door and a real smile, not one of the false ones she'd worn before, crossed her face. "Percy!" She ran to the door and hugged the Samurott.

"Your face looked a lot weirder when you were brainwashed," Sky commented.

Liliana turned without releasing Percy and stared at the girl. "Isn't that one of the assassins that visited Nature's Guardians? What is she doing here?"

"I asked for her help in finding a psychic Pokésoul," Scarlet replied.

"Which is me," Starlight added.

"You asked assassins for help?" Liliana said, her voice clearly doubting Scarlet's judgement.

"No, they offered," Scarlet corrected. "And it all worked out, they found Starlight and she fixed you!"

"How did you fix me anyway?" Liliana wondered. "Was it hard?"

"Not really," Starlight replied. "The brainwashing wasn't all that strong, and your bond with Percy was much stronger than his compulsion so I just used your bond to reverse it."

"Does that mean you can't fix people who aren't Pokésouls?" Scarlet asked, her face pensive.

"I don't know, why? Are there more brainwashed people?"

"Several," Liliana replied darkly.

"I don't know for sure, I can definitely try, but it will certainly take longer to fix them than it did Liliana."

"Well fixing them isn't even something we can really think about at this point anyway," Scarlet sighed. "First we have to bring Razan down."

"Right," Liliana agreed. "We're going to make him pay!"

"Maybe I should go with you. To help with the others who are brainwashed," Starlight said.

"No!" Eclipse yelled. "You're supposed to help me," he added more quietly.

"If you come as well than I can do both," Starlight pointed out.

"What's Eyepatch need help with?" Sky wondered. "And who's the little kid?"

"You are," Eclipse retorted.

"I am Yunyi," Yunyi said, though her quiet voice was mostly drowned out by Eclipse's retort.

"Regardless of whether you want to help or not, it's not safe for Psychic Pokésouls anymore," Lucinda said.

"What do you mean?" Starlight asked.

"Nature's Guardians," Scarlet guessed. Lucinda nodded.

"What does that mean?" Eclipse demanded.

Liliana rolled her eyes at him. "It's obvious isn't it? The only people who can break the brainwashing are other Psychic Pokésouls. If he gets rid of them all, then there's no one to stop him!"

"You really don't think we're safe here?" Starlight wondered.

"We found you in a couple days," Sky replied. "Granted, I am the best assassin in the world. Don't worry Red, you're in second." Lucinda rolled her eyes, but otherwise ignored her companion.

"I don't see any reason to trust either of you," Eclipse said, glaring at them.

"Do you think it's true?" Starlight asked Scarlet. "Do you believe Yunyi and I are in danger here?"

Scarlet was silent for a moment, then nodded slowly. "I don't know what their endgame is, or what they're planning but I'm sure Razan doesn't want people out here who can undo his brainwashing." Liliana nodded in agreement.

"Then we have to go," Starlight said.

"Me too?" Yunyi asked, staring nervously at the ground.

"It will be safer in the city," Scarlet said. "You won't have to fight or help with the others, but we can protect you better there than we can out here. We won't make you come, but I don't know how long you'll be safe here for."

"I'm definitely coming," Starlight reiterated.

"That means I'm going then," Eclipse said, annoyance evident in his voice.

"Then...then I'll come as well," Yunyi said. "I don't want to fight, and I don't think I can help much with the brainwashing, but if there's anything I can do, I will try."

Starlight walked over to Yunyi and wrapped an arm around the little girl. "Don't worry Yunyi, we'll keep you safe and everything will work out for the best!"

The small girl nodded nervously.

"We should hurry and leave," Liliana said. "We don't know if anyone is following us." Scarlet nodded in agreement and the group headed out of the small cabin, with only a brief pause for Yunyi, Eclipse and Starlight to gather their things. Yunyi locked the door, Devoir at her side, then firmly turned away from it. "Let's go," she said, her tiny voice firm.

* * *

The group started down the path to Rustboro city, pausing only when they noticed Sky and Lucinda still among their ranks.

"What are you doing?" Liliana asked suspiciously.

"We haven't been payed yet," Sky replied. "And we're going the same way anyway. Plus, traveling is more fun with more people!" She said the last with a huge grin, one which made Scarlet instantly suspicious. Unfortunately there wasn't anything she could do about it as they were right, Preston had the payment and Scarlet didn't.

"Fine," Scarlet said. "But if you do anything bad to any of us you're not getting any money."

"We will be extremely pleasant traveling companions," Lucinda promised. Scarlet nodded, but it wasn't the Red Neck she was worried about. Staring at Sky pointedly , the small assassin sighed.

"Yeah yeah, I won't stab any of you or anything." Half-hearted though it was, Scarlet decided it was the best she was going to get.

"Let's get to Rustboro then," Scarlet said. The others nodded and the strange group of travelers headed down the road.

* * *

Walking behind the others and keeping her voice low, Lucinda said, "Why are we traveling with them?"

"It's all so interesting!" Sky exclaimed. "Brainwashing, murder, explosions! Don't you want to see what happens next?"

"Not as much as I want to get more money," Lucinda replied.

"You're so boring," Sky complained. "But don't worry, I think we can get ourselves a situation where we get to see what happens _and_ get paid."

"You think the Guardian Force will hire us to help them?" Lucinda asked skeptically.

"If they're desperate enough they'll do it."

"I suppose it's possible," Lucinda conceded.

"Maybe we'll even get put in history books!"

"I'm fairly sure our exploits to date are already enough to be mentioned in those."

"Obviously," Sky said with a snicker. "But with this maybe we can even be heroes!"

"I wouldn't think you interested in that, being an assassin and all."

"Well I don't want to actually _be_ a hero, but being thought of as one might be fun."

Lucinda simply sighed at this and went with the flow. Either they'd get paid to help or they wouldn't, either way she had a feeling she'd end up getting involved anyway. Sky had a tendency to pull her into situations she'd rather avoid.


	26. The Waiting Game

**Author's note:**

**Sorry this chapter is even later than usual, I had some essays to write :( I'm not super happy with this chapter, but here it is anyways. Thanks as always for the reviews, they really do make me happy :)**

* * *

**Chapter 22: The Waiting Game**

* * *

"Do we have any leads?" Kirtus asked, prefaced by a huge yawn.

"Kai's looking into it," Wolf replied. "I thought we'd check at the working power plants again just to make sure nothing else has happened yet."

"Sounds good to me," Kirtus replied easily.

The two (plus Silvia) wandered down the road to the elevator and were soon in the lower level. They started with the northern plant to find it the same as before. Same with the west one.

"They don't seem to have tried to bomb he other power plants," Kirtus commented as they headed for the southern plant. It wasn't too surprising though as there were now several guards posted at each plant to guard against such attacks.

"They know that we know that that's their plan," Wolf replied. "But now they know that we know that they know that we know that they are after the plants!"

"...What?" Kirtus said. Even Silvia, who could understand her partner's mind completely, looked confused.

"They're going to try to surprise us," Wolf summarized.

"Oh," Kirtus replied, wondering how the previous babble possibly meant that. "So what do we do then? Walk around hoping we find them?"

"We look for clues I suppose," Wolf said. "Hopefully Kai will come up with something soon and then we'll know for sure what to do." In the end their decision turned out not to matter.

They were rounding a corner when an Altaria appeared from one of the alleys, slamming into Silvia. Wolf turned in surprise and was knocked backwards into a wall by a Jolteon.

Confused and slightly frantic, Kirtus reached for his own Pokémon and released his Crobat and Vaporeon. Wolf was clearly stunned by the impact, but Silvia seemed to have shaken it off. She growled menacingly at the Altaria and charged it. Kirtus wasn't sure what her plan was, but he assumed the part where she was hit with Steel Wing wasn't part of it. The Altaria was clearly powerful and the second attack was too much for Silvia who remained down this time.

"Vaporeon, Aurora Beam!" Kirtus quickly commanded. "Crobat, Wing attack!"

Vaporeon charged up the aurora beam and launched it at the Altaria while Crobat attacked the Jolteon. Neither enemy Pokémon was particularly effected. Kirtus felt a chill go through him. These two were simply stronger than his Pokémon and he wasn't going to win this.

Wolf struggled upwards and looked at Kirtus, "Run," he said, coughing. "Leave me and get help!"

Kirtus stared at his friend, he couldn't just leave him there! In that time the Jolteon attacked his Vaporeon with a Thunderbolt, leaving his water-type weakened on the ground. "Run!" Wolf yelled. Kirtus obeyed this time, quickly returning Vaporeon before it could take more damage and grabbing his Crobat's leg.

"Let's go," he said to the bat Pokémon. It chirped sadly and took off, narrowly dodging a Wing Attack from the Altaria. Kirtus glanced backward nervously, but the Altaria didn't follow, apparently uninterested in him now that he wasn't in the way. As they grew small in the distance he saw a tall female figure step out of the shadows.

* * *

Kai sighed as she searched for her prey. The others were all out looking for Altair (other than Mira who was at her own work) and Kai hoped they were having more luck than her. Virus had wiped all the places Kai would have started looking for Altair so she was stuck guessing, just like the others. Annoyed, she clicked over to one of the few security cams in the lower level and gasped.

There was Wolf, laying on the ground next to a defeated Silvia. She caught a glimpse of Kirtus flying away on his Crobat and stared in horror at her defeated friend. An Altaria loomed over the boy and a Jolteon sat at attention. A woman Kai immediately recognized walked over to the fallen boy, a victorious smirk on her face. "Altair," Kai breathed. Altair was there, and she had Wolf. Kai stared in shock at the screen for a few moments, seeing Altair return her Pokémon and have her friend grab Wolf and Silvia as they walked away. As they left the screen Kai abruptly returned to herself and began tracking them on the screens. Despite her best efforts, the two disappeared from her view and Kai closed the program. She grabbed her bag and ran out of the house and ran towards headquarters, texting Preston on the way. She already knew he would want her to go there. They needed to make a plan to get Wolf back. They _would_ get him back.

* * *

The sound of splintering wood made Gina flinch and Christopher roll his eyes. "Having fun?" Christopher asked dryly. Wyvrn ignored the other boy and continued to smash things. Kadabra watched its partner with an exasperated look on its face.

"Well, if he breaks everything he'll eventually get us out," Gina said, flinching again as Wyvrn threw a pot at a wall.

"This building is big though. We still haven't explored the whole thing," Christopher point out. "Angry as he is it will still take him a while to destroy everything in here." This statement was punctuated by the sound of Wyvrn's boot crushing a box.

"If you two helped it wouldn't take quite as long," Wyvrn growled.

"I'd hate to take your fun away from you," Christopher replied snidely. Vieara, on the other hand, seemed to be having a great time slicing things up with Wyvrn.

Gina sighed and slumped down the wall. They'd been searching for what felt like hours, though truthfully Gina hadn't a clue how much time had passed, but they hadn't found any other doors. They hadn't found anything obviously magical either. Gina'd been hoping that if she got close to whatever object was the focus she'd be able to sense it, but either she wasn't close enough or she wasn't skilled enough because she hadn't felt anything. Feeling useless, she resigned herself to spending more time stuck in the building. Christopher seemed to have reached the same conclusion, judging by the unhappy look on his face.

* * *

"What happened?" Preston demanded as Kirtus came into the room, dirt and a smattering of blood dirtying his clothes.

Kirtus slowly got out the story of Wolf's capture as the others listened. After Preston has received Kai's message, he had recalled everyone. Other than Kirtus, so far, Christina's group and Kai were the only ones who had come back to the base.

"I've been trying to get in contact with Wyvrn but he isn't answering any texts or phone calls," Kai said once Kirtus's story was finished.

"Or something could have happened to him as well," Preston sighed. "Why would they attack now? Are they trying to get him out of the city? They've never attacked any Guardian officers directly before."

"You caught one of their people though and that's a new development too," Christina pointed out.

"So this is what, a revenge kidnapping?" Pecha mused.

"Or just a change in tactics," Kai replied. "All that we really know is that they want to fight us, we're not sure what they're real goal is."

"Don't they want to destroy the city?" Nami asked. "Isn't that why they blew up the power plant?"

"It's impossible to actually destroy the entire city. Not without causing major damage to the Outerlands as well," Preston pointed out. "They just want to weaken us. Blowing up the power plants was a way of doing that."

"So is kidnapping Guardian a Force officers," Kai finished.

"What do you think they're ultimate goal is?" Pecha wondered.

"They always claimed it was about saving nature," Blake replied. "But I think that was mostly propaganda. Blowing up the power plant certainly wasn't good for nature."

"Does it even matter?" Kirtus asked. "Knowing what they want won't help Wolf."

"Know thy enemy," Kai said. "The more we know about them the better we can predict them."

"Is there any way of tracking Wolf?" Nami wondered.

"We could track his ID, but Altair left in the alley where he was attacked," Preston replied.

"I'm doing what I can with the cameras, but the coverage in the lower level is pretty spotty," Kai informed.

"I wonder where Wyvrn is," Christna said. "It's weird that he hasn't come back or answered any phone calls, isn't it?"

"Well, it is Wyvrn," Preston said. "He tends not to check in or bother people with what he's doing."

"Do you think we should check on Zyra and Nevin?" Nami asked.

"I don't think they're in any particular danger," Preston replied. "Neither of them live here so they shouldn't be targeted."

"We don't know where they are anyway," Pecha pointed out. "And neither one has a phone for us to ask."

"We should probably get Nevin one," Nami mused. "Zyra would smash hers, but I think he could handle one."

"Next time we see them we can get him one," Blake said.

"Guys," Kirtus interrupted, snappier than usual from him. Nami wasn't particularly surprised though, it must have been terrible to see his friend kidnapped like that with nothing he could do about it.

"Don't worry, we'll find him," Preston said. "I don't leave my people captive."

Kirtus looked a bit reassured and relaxed slightly. He didn't even look tired for once.

"I'm still looking," Kai said. "I saw the fight and tried to track them, but I can't find any cameras that follow her retreat."

"That's probably on purpose," Preston said. "If they've been here for as long as it seems they would have likely found all the blind spots."

"Which makes me a bit useless," Kai grumbled, glaring at her computer.

"You'll be useful later," Preston assured her.

"So what do we do then?" Christina wondered. "Start looking through all the buildings in the lower level?"

"We know that she's down there and wants to capture our people, sending anyone down into the lower level without a clear objective is a bad idea," Preston replied. "Until we have a likely location I don't want any of you going down there."

"So we're not even going to try and save him?" Kirtus demanded.

"If you go down there and start wandering aimlessly she'll attack again. Getting yourself kidnapped won't help Wolf," Preston replied. "She can't hide forever. And once we find her, we will strike and we will get Wolf back."

* * *

Altair walked down the street, triumph written across her face. Behind her, Talon staggered under the weight of the white haired teenage boy he was carrying slung across his shoulder. "Where are we taking him?" Talon gasped out. He was dragging along the unconscious Sylveon as well, the pink creature much less of a burden than its partner.

"You'll know when we get there," Altair replied, not in the mood to talk. Talon nodded meekly.

Altair led the way into one of the abandoned zones, not the one they were in earlier, and opened the door to one of the buildings, ushering Talon inside. He followed and dropped Wolf unceremoniously on the floor. Altair grabbed the boy's arm and dragged him to a pillar which she then tied him to.

"What are we going to do with him?" Talon asked. "Interrogate him?"

Altair scoffed. "I really doubt this guy has any information I need. No, he's bait. I'm sure his superiors will send people to look for him and then we can capture them too. After all, we're here to cause chaos right?"

Talon groaned internally and rubbed his shoulder. He howled Altair would at least capture the next people closer to the base. He wasn't strong enough to drag people around all day.

* * *

Xero watched Altair and her minion drag the white-haired boy inside impassively. She'd already told him to go away, but Xero didn't have much else to do. He'd planted the trap in that other building, which he felt go off, but he didn't have any particular plans at the moment. Hopefully he'd caught someone useful and not some random kids, though really he didn't care. This wasn't his assignment, it was Altair's. Razan had send him as backup, but if she didn't want his help, why should he bother staying here anyway?

_Razan would be mad if we left_, Acier, his Aegislash, pointed out.

_I suppose he would_, Xero sighed. _But this is a waste of my time. I could be out doing something more important. _

_I don't disagree_, Acier assured. _But making Razan angry would be a bad idea_.

Xero couldn't suppress a hiss of irritation, but he nodded in agreement. _So what do we do then?_

_Might as well just stand back until were needed. _

Xero nodded again and made himself comfortable in his secluded spot. He'd keep an eye on things for now, and move in if he found it necessary.

* * *

**Omake:**

"This is place is so weird," Zyra mused. "Look at all this grey. Where are all the trees and dirt?"

"There's a park," Nevin replied. "But I think mostly people don't think of dirt as a good thing."

"What?" Zyra said, seeming genuinely surprised. "Why not? Dirt is great!"

"Um, well it's kind of, dirty?"

"Well, duh. It's dirt."

Nevin looked at the wild girl and decided not to continue trying to explain this particular subject to her.

* * *

**That last bit really didn't fit at all into the chapter, but I thought it was funny so I stuck it here. Hope that doesn't annoy anyone**


	27. Visitors

**Author's Note:**

**Thank you so much to my reviewers! :) Here's the new chapter, I hope you're all still enjoying the story!**

* * *

Chapter 23: Visitors

* * *

"Should we head into the city?" Nevin asked as he walked with Zyra towards the city-town from the forest the two had slept in. He still wouldn't call it comfortable, but Nevin was actually getting the hang of sleeping in trees.

"There's nothing fun there," Zyra replied. "We can't even shop because we don't have any of their weirdo money."

"That's a good point. Should we walk around here then?" Nevin suggested. "We haven't actually explored the city-town that much."

Zyra shrugged. "Might as well. Nami and Pecha seem to have forsaken us anyway."

"I'm sure they haven't forgotten about us," Nevin assured cheerily. "They have a lot to deal with, but I'm sure they'll visit soon!"

They had begun walking aimlessly down the street when a dash of black caught Nevin's eye. It belonged to the coat a man was wearing and something about it seemed familiar. He was standing by a landing zone for a flight service that flew between regions.

"Do we know him?" Nevin wondered. He couldn't quite place him, but he seemed familiar.

"Hmm?" Zyra turned and observed the man. "Oh!" She exclaimed. "It's that rude guy we met outside River's house."

"Did someone say my name?" The aforementioned River asked. Nevin heard her voice, but still didn't see her until she appeared on the other side of the man. She was looking around for the speaker and her eyes finally fell on Nevin and Zyra. "Oh, you two were looking for that girl Nami's brother, right?"

"Yep," Nevin replied. "We found him!"

"That's good. Volke and I are headed into the city now."

"Why?" Zyra wondered. "It's terrible in there."

"None of your business," Volke growled, glaring at the two teenagers.

"We need to talk to the Guardian Force," River replied, ignoring Volke's comment.

"The Guardian Force, like the one that Preston works for?" Nevin wondered.

"Preston is actually exactly who I need to talk to, how do you know him?" River asked, sounding a bit suspicious.

"Well, it turns out Nami's brother was actually a part of Nature's Guardians and Preston is in charge of investigating it, or something like that," Zyra replied. "I stopped paying attention."

"Huh," River said, seemingly not sure what to say to this. "Well, we really need to get going, so, nice to see you again and all." She began walking towards the gate with Volke following.

"Are you two citizens?" Nevin wondered idly. "They don't let outsiders in normally, do they?"

"No we're not, we're going to have to leave a message at the gate and wait for Preston to get back to us," River replied. Nevin and Zyra had begun following the pair, which led to them getting glared at by Volke again. "It's longer than I want to wait, but it's faster than any other options."

"What if you take our passes?" Nevin asked. "We don't need to go in there right now. You could go right in, get new ones from Preston and give ours back when you come out for the night."

"Why would you give them to us?" Volke asked suspiciously. "Are you trying to get us arrested?"

"I hate the city and don't want to go in there anyway," Zyra replied. "And Nevin is just stupidly nice."

"If you're serious, that would actually be a huge help. I have some pretty important things to tell them about," River said.

"Here," Nevin said. He handed his pass over to River and Zyra gave hers to Volke, who took it suspiciously.

"Thanks," River said. "We'll give them back when we're done."

"Thank you," Volke admitted grudgingly.

"No problem," Nevin assured with a grin. "If you see Nami, Pecha, Gina or Blake tell them we say hi!"

River nodded in acknowledgment as the two walked up to the gate and showed the passes. River was clearly half-expecting hers not to work, based on the surprised expression she gave off when it did. She turned and waved at them gratefully before passing through the gate. Volke looked at them with an expression other than complete dislike, which Nevin decided to interpret as heartfelt gratitude.

"Back to exploring?" Zyra asked as the gate closed.

"I suppose so," Nevin replied with a smile.

* * *

"Have you found anything yet?" Christina asked, looking at Kai who was hunched over her computer where she had been since she'd arrived at the headquarters.

"No," she growled. Christina nodded sadly and continued what she had been doing before, which was staring at her feet. Since Preston didn't want anyone going out and possibly getting kidnapped themselves, they were all doing what they could from inside the office. Unfortunately, there just wasn't anything Christina could really do from here.

Kirtus was messing around with some pieces of tech that Christina assumed he had some plan for, Preston was grilling Blake while his sister Nami watched on anxiously and Pecha was reading some sort of book. Actually, she probably wasn't doing anything to help either, but she wasn't in the same situation as Christina, because she wasn't friends with Wolf. Christina was, maybe she wasn't as close to him as Kirtus was, but Christina was his friend too and all she was doing was sitting here. She sighed softly and continued to stare at her feet.

She was about to let out another sigh when there was a knock on the door, followed by it swinging open rather suddenly. Christina's head jerked up and found a man draped in black holding the door open while a girl entered, looking at him a bit bemusedly.

"We could have waited for them to answer," the girl said.

"It would have taken too long," the man replied.

"Can I help you?" Preston asked, though his tone implied that the two better have a good reason for being there.

Kai glanced up from her computer, went back to typing, then glanced back up again. This time her gaze stuck to the new girl. "River?" Kai asked, sounding rather surprised.

"Kai!" The girl greeted.

"You know them?" Preston asked Kai.

"This is River Meyer, she's an informant in the Outerlands. I'm not sure who the guy is."

"This is Volke," River introduced. "We were sent by Scarlet."

"Scarlet?" Preston said, his voice taking on a worried tone. "Is she alright?"

"She's fine," River assured. "I left her in the company of some very experienced assassins!"

"That's safe?" Pecha wondered doubtfully.

"Assassins?" Christina said nervously.

"That's not the important part," River continued hastily. "She got made at Nature's Guardians and had to leave. Her friend was brainwashed and she went to try to fix her."

"Brainwashed?" Pecha repeated. "How did they do that?"

"It must have been a psychic Pokésoul," Kai replied. "Though I've never heard of anyone actually brainwashing someone before."

"Razan is a psychic Pokésoul," Blake supplied. "I didn't know he was brainwashing people though."

"Where exactly did Scarlet go?" Preston asked.

"She went to Hoenn to track down a different psychic Pokésoul to fix her friend," River replied.

"Is it just Razan who can brainwash people?" Christina asked nervously. "What it they do something to Wolf?"

"I doubt anyone else there would have the capability," Kai replied. "Being able to actually brainwash someone with his powers must have taken him a long time to perfect. The chances of another person in the organization having the same ability is really slim."

"So that's what Scarlet wanted you to warn us about?" Preston asked.

River nodded. Volke had leaned back against one of the walls and was watching the proceedings impassively, while Kirtus seemingly ignored the entire exchange and continued fiddling with his device.

"So if some of the people are being brainwashed, then if we attack them we're just hurting innocent people," Nami pointed out.

"I don't think they'd be all that good at fighting," River replied. "Scarlet's friend was pretty out of it."

"We can't count on that though," Blake said. "Besides, even the people who aren't being brainwashed are mostly misled."

"Are you the brother?" River wondered.

"The brother?" Blake repeated, confused.

"Yes, he is," Nami replied. "Thank you for your help before. The Mage's Guild was the right place for us to go."

"I'm glad I could help," River replied with a smile.

"You guys know them too?" Christina asked, confused by the conversation.

"We went to River for help finding Blake," Nami explained.

"She suggested we go to the Mage's Guild, which is where we found him," Pecha added. Christina nodded in understanding.

Preston had appeared lost in thought during this exchange, but seemingly had come to a decision. "Thank you for the information, but it doesn't change our current objective. We still need to save Wolf."

"Wolf?" River asked.

"He's a Guardian Force officer and he was captured by Altair," Kai explained.

"Guess he wasn't a very good one if he got caught," Volke mused.

"Volke," River sighed as the man was instantly the target of several glares. He shrugged and didn't say anything else. "Is there anything I can help with?" River asked.

"Yeah, you could help me search though this," Kai replied, showing River her screen as River pulled her own laptop out of her bag.

"You two aren't from the city are you?" Pecha asked suddenly.

"No, why?" River replied absently as she typed away at her computer.

"Then how did you even get in the city?"

"That's, actually a good question," Christina added.

"You're two friends gave us their passes," Volke explained. "The idiot nice guy and the tree girl."

"Zyra and Nevin," Nami translated. Volke shrugged uninterestedly.

"We should get them new passes then," Blake said. "They can't get in without them."

Preston walked to his desk and pulled out two more passes which he gave to Nami. "I need you to stay here," he said to Blake. "You two can give these to your friends." He said this to Nami and Pecha.

The two girls exchanged looks. "I can go if you want to stay here with Blake," Pecha offered.

"Thanks," Nami said gratefully, handing the small rectangular devices over to the other girl.

"No problem," Pecha replied. "I'll go now. See you later." The girl left the room, having to maneuver around Volke who refused to move from his position in front of the door.

The room returned to how it had been before Volke and River had arrived, though now there were two people typing and a menacing presence at the door. Christina still had nothing to do. She sighed.

* * *

Gina wandered through the dark abandoned hallways, Christopher and Vieara following behind. Wyvrn and Kadabra had split off to continue smashing things in other rooms while Gina and Christopher explored the rest.

"This building is a lot bigger than it looks," Christopher commented.

"It is," Gina agreed with a sigh. "I'm not even sure how much of it we've seen, it all looks the same."

"You haven't been able to sense whatever is holding the spell in place?" Christopher asked hopefully.

"No," Gina replied apologetically. "It's possible I'm just not good enough."

"Or it could be that this building is massive," Christopher countered. Gina gave a slight nod to that as she poked her head into one of the side doors.

"I wonder if the Guardian Force officers have noticed that we're missing," Christopher said.

"Oh, I hadn't though of that," Gina said. "Although, they wouldn't even know where to look for us so we can't count on them anyway."

Gina opened another door and stepped inside. Just as she was about to turn around, she felt something prickle in her senses. It was an odd sensation, unlike any other, the distinct feeling of magic. "I feel it," Gina announced.

"You do?" Christopher said, his face breaking out into a grin. Vieara perked up as well and waved her arms in excitement. "Find it and we can smash it."

"It's this way," Gina said. She closed her eyes to feel the sensation better and began walking towards the odd feeling. Once she felt she had the correct direction, she began to walk again, Christopher right behind her. Magic was a strange thing to sense, technically anyone was able to feel it, but only those who had trained in the magical arts were actually able to do so with any regularity. Christopher probably felt the tingle of magic as well but just couldn't place what it was. At least, that's how it had been for Gina before she began training. Now she was able to feel the magic, though wasn't able to understand it to the level one of the more experienced guild members would be able to.

They walked forward until they hit a wall, then they had to find what door led through that one. Unfortunately, her magic sense didn't give her the ability to know how exactly to _get_ to what she was sensing. They finally found the correct door and walked inside.

The room was much like the others in the building, full of broken things and plies of boxes. Apparently the building had been some sort of storehouse at one point, though it must have been out of use for quite a while now.

"It's in here?" Christopher asked.

"I think so," Gina replied. "I can't tell where exactly though. I just know it's close."

"We could just start destroying things then," Christopher suggested. "Though most of this junk is already broken anyway."

Vieara let out a short cry and dove into a stack of boxes, her claws gleaming as they swung.

"Well at least Vieara will get a workout," Christopher mused.

"Did you find something?" Came the voice of Wyvrn, who Gina assumed had been summoned by the sounds of destruction. Kadabra followed him placidly and Gina wondered, and not for the first time, how those two were even partners. They seemed way to different to get along, but apparently they did.

"I believe that the focus of the spell is in this room," Gina replied. "I'm not sure where in here it is though." There was a loud crash as Vieara knocked over a large stack of pots.

"I guess we'll have to break everything then," Wyvrn said with a wicked smile. He walked over to a stack of boxes and began smashing them with his fists. Gina watched in amusement as the Sneasel and the man both took immense glee in the destruction of the items.

Christopher shrugged at Gina, then walked over and began to help. His method involved a lot more shoving things into his pockets than Wyvrn's did. Kadabra began levitating things and throwing them into walls as well, so Gina finally sighed to herself and began sorting through the old and broken items as well. She hoped they'd find it soon, she really didn't want to be stuck down here any longer. She was getting hungry.

* * *

**End Note:**

**There wasn't really a place to explain in the chapter that didn't feel awkward, so putting it here. Volke and River flew to Lumiose because Preston would be contacted quicker from there then if they stayed in Goldenrod. **


	28. A Dangerous Plan

**Author's Note:**

**I'm sorry this chapter is so short :( I'll try to make the next one longer! Thanks so much for reading and especially to the reviewers, they really are motivating! :D**

* * *

Chapter 24: Dangerous Plan

* * *

The sound of ceramic onto the hard floor was overshadowed by the burst of power Gina immediately felt release. "That was it!" she exclaimed, dropping the junk she'd been holding.

"It was?" Christopher said. "So we can finally get out of here?"

Wyvrn looked for confirmation as well, and Gina though she actually saw a bit of disappointment in his face. He must _really_ like smashing things. "I definitely felt something happen."

"Let's go try the door then," Christopher said. "I've had enough of abandoned warehouses. So has Vieara," he added after the Sneasel made a derisive sound.

"Me too," Gina agreed heartily.

"We need to report to Preston," Wyvrn said. "We've been stuck down here for quite a while now and they're probably wondering where we are."

The group continued to talk as they made their way out of the building. "Was it Nature's Guardians who trapped us in here?" Christopher wondered.

"Probably," Gina replied. "I don't know who else would be willing to use magic in the city like this."

"What was the point though? Keep us down here for a couple hours? What does that get them?" Christopher wondered, a pensive look crossing his face.

"Who cares," Wyvrn grumbled. "We'll find them and beat them up."

"Or arrest them," Gina corrected. "And I think they may not have even had a plan. After all, they had no way of knowing we'd come in here. It's like they just put this trap here for...fun."

"I didn't think it was fun," Christopher said. "Although I suppose some of the destruction was entertaining."

"I do like smashing things," Wyvrn agreed.

"I think anyone who's ever met you knows that," Gina mumbled quietly. The trio finally reached the door and Christopher attempted to open it. The door swung open easily and Vieara ran past Christopher in a mad dash to get outside. The others followed after and the group all basked in the - admittedly dim - light of the lower level.

"I never thought I'd be this happy to see the fake sky," Christopher mused.

"I still find it very unsettling, but I definitely prefer this to being stuck in there," Gina replied. Wyvrn was checking his phone again.

"Still no signal. We should return to the Guardian Force," Wyvrn said. Gina and Christopher nodded their assent and the group left. Kadabra paused before following, feeling like it was being watched, but it was unable to sense a presence so it hurried to catch up with the others.

Hiding in the shadows of a nearby alley, Xero watched the Kadabra run back to its partner, the Psychic Pokémon's senses unable to detect him through his cloaking spell. _The girl is a magic user, _he remarked to Acier_. But based on how long it took them to get out we don't have to worry about her_.

_They also appear to lack cohesion_, Acier added. _They were stuck in there for several hours and no one came looking for them. _

_If all they have is what they've shown us so far, Razan doesn't have anything to worry about. He didn't even need to send us out here for this. _

_We still must do our part_, Acier chided. _We're working for him right now so we should do as he asks. _

Xero sighed but acknowledged the point. _Let's go see what Altair's up to then_.

* * *

"Here," Kirtus said, showing off the piece of tech he'd been creating.

"What is that?" Christina asked, peering at the device. It was a small black rectangular object, other than that Christina could discern nothing about it. She wasn't particularly tech savvy.

"It's a tracking device," Kirtus said.

"A tracker? Isn't it a bit late for that?" Kai asked distractedly as she continued searching on her computer.

"We can send someone down to the lower level with this, then when they're captured we can track them," Kirtus explained.

"But, what if they don't bring that person to the same place as Wolf?" Nami wondered.

"Or what if Altair just kills whoever comes next," Blake added.

"You think she would?" Nami asked, her face showing concern.

"She was known for being ruthless and uncaring. I wouldn't put anything past her," Blake replied.

"They're right," Preston said. "I want to save Wolf, but sending more of us into danger isn't the way."

"I'll do it," Kirtus said.

"You're not a Guardian Force officer. There's no reason for her to want you," Preston pointed out.

"Other than Preston, I'm the only Guardian Officer here," Kai said. "I would have to be the one to go."

"No," Preston said. "You're the best chance we have of finding Wolf right now. If we send Kai and she is captured then we lose both ways of finding Wolf."

"What about River?" Christina wondered, looking at the Outerlander. "Can't she do what Kai's doing?"

"Somewhat," River replied. "I'm not familiar with the city though, I can look for abnormalities, but I need Kai to tell me what they mean."

"So we're not going to help him," Kirtus said, his voice flat. It was the angriest Christina had ever seen him, and she agreed with him, but at the same time she could see Preston's point. Wolf could already be dead, as horrible a thought as that was, and sending Kai in after him could just get her killed as well.

"We're going to find Wolf, but we'll only act when I'm at least reasonably sure we'll succeed without putting anyone else in unnecessary danger," Preston said with a note of finality.

Kirtus glared at the floor for a moment, then abruptly stood and left the room.

"Kirtus?" Christina called after him. She got up and went to the door, but he was already gone from sight. Christina returned to her seat and hoped that he didn't do anything rash.

* * *

Mira returned to her house, expecting no one to be there. Kai had texted her about what happened to Wolf and Mira hoped that they found him. She hadn't known the man long, but he seemed like a nice guy.

When she opened the door, she found herself staring at Kirtus, who was staring at her door. "Kirtus?" She said, surprised.

"I need to ask you something," he said.

"Uh, what?" Mira asked nervously as she entered, closing the door behind her. Kirtus looked more intense than Mira had ever seen the boy before.

"I need you to be bait."

"Bait?" Mira repeated. She had a mental image of herself clinging to a fishing line and luring fish in.

_Not like that_, Kira said, the Kirlia giggling in Mira's mind.

"We've recently found out that Nature's Guardian has a particular interest in Psychic Pokésouls," Kirtus explained. "If you go near them, they will probably grab you."

"That sounds like a bad thing," Mira said, fidgeting nervously. Kira glared at Kirtus from behind Mira, anger at the boy for wanting to put her partner in danger evident.

"This is a tracker that they won't notice," Kirtus said, showing her an innocuous mechanical device. "They'll kidnap you, bring you to where Wolf is and I can follow after."

Mira knew that she absolutely did not want to do this. "Why don't one of the Guardian Force officers go instead?" Mira deflected, trying not to sound and feel terrified.

"Preston says it's too dangerous, but this is the only way to find Wolf that we have."

_Why don't you go_? Kira wondered, sending the thought directly to Kirtus, though Mira heard as well. Surprise was evident on the boy's face and Mira assumed he'd never had a Pokémon speak in his mind before.

"I'm the only one who knows how to track this thing," Kirtus replied, getting over his surprise quickly.

"And you can't teach someone else," Mira asked.

"No." Mira got the feeling there was more to it than that, but let it go. "If you don't help me, Wolf will be trapped there for who knows how long. We don't even know if they'll keep him alive for long."

_There's no guarantee they'll take Mira alive either,_ Kira pointed out.

"They have to take her alive, if they kill her than we'll assume they killed Wolf as well," Kirtus said. "They want to find all of us that are trying to find them. If they kill Mira or Wolf they lose their leverage."

Mira exchanged terrified looks with Kira._ I don't want to_, Mira thought, terror gripping her.

_You don't have to do this_, Kira replied.

_But if I don't and Kirtus is right and they don't think of any other way, then Wolf will just be trapped there. _

_Kirtus's device may not be as infallible as he thinks_, Kira added. _We have to consider the possibility of being stuck if we're caught. And I'm not convinced they won't just kill us. _

Mira felt the urge to cry or throw up, but managed to do neither. Mira knew that this was a turning moment in her life, a point she would remember forever. If she didn't do this, and something horrible happened to Wolf, which was a very real possibility, then she would never forgive herself._ I think I have to do this_, she thought very quietly.

_I'm with you then_, Kira assured her. _Always. _

_Thank you_. "We'll do it," Mira said aloud, her voice shaking only slightly.

"You will?" Kirtus said, her voice filled with relief and Mira realized he didn't think she'd go along with it.

"Wolf is my friend too," Mira said, her voice becoming more resolved. "But if I do this, I want you to take care of my Pokémon." Mira found the two white and red balls holding her Lucario and Togetic and held them out to Kirtus. "If anything happens to me, you have to promise to make sure they're looked after."

Kirtus gently took the two Poké Balls and nodded. "I promise."

"How do we do this?" Kirtus began laying out his plan, Mira and Kira listening intently.

* * *

Pecha left the walls of the city, feeling simultaneously relived and a bit disappointed. The relief came from being back to an environment she actually understood, the disappointment from leaving so soon.

She soaked up the familiar wooden buildings, a comforting familiarity after all the cement and metal from the city. _Where do you think Zyra and Nevin are?_ Pecha wondered idly. In truth, she was in no real hurry to find them. There was nothing for her to do in the city anyway, helping Wolf was something she wasn't able to assist with, not with her lack of knowledge of the city.

_We should probably check the trees_, Zap replied dryly.

_I'd rather not get lost in the forest again,_ Pecha muttered. Zap gave the metal equivalent of a shrug as the two continued to walk aimlessly through the town.

"Hey Pecha!" An enthusiastic voice yelled. Pecha turned towards it with a smile and greeted Nevin, who was the one who had called out. Zyra and the Pokémon followed behind him.

"Here," Pecha said, holding out the passes. "We heard you gave yours away."

The two took the passes, Zyra grudgingly and Nevin with a grin. "Thanks," Nevin said. "So were River and Volke helpful?"

"Volke certainly wasn't, but River had some interesting things to say," Pecha replied.

"How is the Guardian Force?" Zyra wondered. "Are they actually at all close to being able to stop Nature's Guardians?"

"I really don't know," Pecha replied honestly. "This whole thing is a bit over my head."

Nevin nodded in agreement. "I don't understand why people can't just get along!"

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Pecha said dryly.

"You hadn't? I thought it was obvious," Nevin replied innocently.

Zyra coughed to cover a laugh at the boy's naivety, then said, "We were going to go find lunch, want to come?"

"Sure," Pecha agreed. "It's nice to get out of the city for a bit." The three wandered off through the town searching for lunch.

* * *

**Note:**

**I'm not sure it's explicit from the story, so I'm making it clear here. Xero put that trap spell on the building just to screw with them. He just put it there on a whim.**


	29. Convergence

**Author's Note: **

**Hey! Look I actually updated in one week! Woo! Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter! As always thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

* * *

Chapter 25: Convergence

* * *

Wyvrn walked down the hallway and opened the door, but instead of swinging open it slammed into someone. "What the -" he said confused. The door then opened and the obstruction made itself known.

A man glared down at Wyvrn and Wyvrn glared right back.

"Hi there," Gina offered, trying to break up the glare fest.

"Who are you?" Christopher wondered.

"Volke, get away from the door," said a female voice Christopher didn't recognize. The man, Volke, presumably, glared for a few more seconds, then finally backed away from the door allowing entry.

"Wyvrn, is that a you?" Preston asked as Wyvrn, Christopher and Gina walked through the door.

"Obviously," Wyvrn replied.

"What's going on here?" Christopher asked, seeing everyone's tense faces.

"Wolf has been captured," Kai explained tersely.

"Wolf was captured?" Gina gasped.

"Then what are you all sitting around here for? You should be looking for him," Wyvrn said.

"It's too dangerous," Kai said. "That girl took Wolf down easily."

"Well I'm not Wolf. She tries anything on me I'll break her bones," Wyvrn snapped back.

"Going in without a plan won't help Wolf," Preston said, his voice authoritative. "The lower city is huge and we don't know where he was taken."

"All the more reason we should start now," Wyvrn countered.

"You sound like Kirtus," Kai sighed.

"I'm not scared of Nature's Guardians," Wyvrn said. "They think they can just grab us off the street and we need to prove that isn't true."

Christopher wondered at the vehemence of the man's reaction and whether it was possible Wyvrn actually cared Wolf being captured, it didn't fit in with what Christopher knew of him, but perhaps he saw the kidnapping as some sort of personal offense. He quickly decided it didn't matter, trying to figure out Wyvrn's mind was entirely futile.

"You're not going looking for him," Preston said in a voice that allowed no argument.

Wyvrn glared but subsided. He then turned to Gina. "Can you track him with your witch powers?"

"It's magic, and no. Maybe if I had some of his blood, but no," Gina replied apologetically.

"You really are a useless witch," Wyvrn said.

"If it weren't for her we'd have been stuck in that building for a much longer time," Christopher pointed out.

"Building?" Christina repeated.

"Building?" Kai echoed.

"You were gone for a long time, what happened?" Preston asked.

"We were searching for enemy agents when we entered a building and were locked inside by magical means," Wyvrn explained.

"Then we smashed a bunch of stuff and got out," Christopher finished.

"Sounds like a Wyvrn solution," Kai mused.

"You were trapped in a building?" Blake said. "By magic?"

"Was that Altair's work?" Preston asked.

"I don't think so," Blake replied thoughtfully. "I don't remember her using magic much. A lot of the underlings know basic magic, but the rumors I heard said that Xero was the strongest Mage in Nature's Guardians."

"Xero?" Nami repeated. "Who is he?"

"Mr. Not pictured," Kai answered, showing the poster showing the most senior members of Nature's Guardians, pointing at the blank square next to Xero's name.

"Why doesn't he get a picture?" River asked.

Blake shrugged apologetically. "I've never met him, all I know are rumors, and none of them ever sounded believable."

"So there's probably another agent in town and he is probably one of the senior agents _and_ we have no idea what he looks like," Kai summarized unhappily. No one disagreed with the assessment.

* * *

Mira walked down the road, the sheer amount of nerves making her normally fluid walk an erratic shuffle. She knew Kirtus was monitoring her, taking comfort in the feel of the small tracking device strapped to her thigh. It wasn't enough to assuage her fears though, she had no way of knowing how's he would be treated.

_I can't do this_, she said to Kira, her worries making her stop walking.

_Yes you can_, Kira assured. _You said you would, so you will. I know you can do this_.

The belief her Pokémon had in her bolstered her spirits and she nodded gratefully. _I can do this_, she said, her mental voice trembling only slightly. She repeated the line to herself as she continued walking down the street, awaiting her fate.

* * *

Kirtus watched the small red dot on his screen moving deeper into the lower level and he felt a bit of shame. He had no doubt that this was the best way to find Wolf, but he knew that putting Mira in danger like this was a bad thing to do. He couldn't quite bring himself to regret doing it though. Trying this had to be better than just letting Wolf stay trapped with those people. Besides, he assured himself, he would get there before anything bad could happen to Mira. He looked at the two small spheres holding Mira's Pokémon and carefully attached them to his belt. Mira would be fine and he'd be able to return them, but he would keep them safe until she was able to care for them again. He wouldn't let himself consider any other outcome.

* * *

Xero sauntered into the warehouse Altair had claimed as a base to find the woman playing some sort of card game with her minion.

"What are you doing?" Xero asked.

"Winning," Altair replied.

Xero decided he didn't care enough about the answer to rephrase the question. "Have there been any developments?"

"None so far. Apparently the Guardian Force doesn't care much for its officers. If they don't come soon I'll try a different strategy," Altair replied, her gaze never wavering from the cards in her hand.

Xero knew better than to ask for details, besides he didn't really care anyway. "If they don't come for him then I'll take him to headquarters," Xero announced. "Razan will probably be able to get some interesting things from his mind."

Altair shrugged and put down a few cards which drew a grimace from her subordinate. "Do what you want with him. He's really annoying anyway."

"Shall I take him now or should we give the Guardians more time to find him?"

"Give them another hour," Altair said. "It won't be dark before then anyway and you won't want to leave during the day."

Xero nodded in acceptance. "Deal me in?" He asked, despite having no idea what game they were playing. Altair gestured to the empty chair and dealt him a hand. As they played the two swapped impressions of the Guardian Focre. Neither one had found them to be feared in the slightest. Xero almost pitied the Guardians really, from what he'd seen Altair would destroy them.

* * *

Thee hands of cards, and two wins later, Xero put an end to the game. "It's been an hour by now hasn't it?" Xero said.

Altair shrugged. "Take him. It seems like they don't care. I'll just have to take a more direct approach."

"Have fun," Xero said without heart. He went into the he other room where. The white haired boy was slumped against the wall, clearly drugged. His Pokémon was drugged as well the small fairy-type lying unconscious next to him. "Time to go," Xero said, even though the boy couldn't hear him. Xero gestured to Acier and the Aegislash hefted the boy while Xero took the Sylveon.

He nodded to Altair as he left and he and Acier made their way to the gates. There was very little chance they'd make it there without the guardian force noticing, but Xero doubted they'd be able to mobilize in time to stop him so he didn't particularly care. He still stuck to the shadows though. No reason to tempt fate.

It was as he worked his way to the upper level that he came upon something interesting. _Upper level girl_? He commented to Acier.

_Must be_, the Pokémon replied. The girl had mint green hair and appeared rather nervous as she walked uncertainly down the streets. If her obvious confusion about where she was weren't proof enough, her clothes clearly gave away her wealthier status. They were much cleaner and well made than the clothes people wore in the lower level.

_She is with a Kirlia_, Acier commented. _A Pokésoul_?

Xero looked at the Pokémon and wondered. If the girl really was a psychic Pokésoul then it might be best to take her with them. Razan didn't want psychic Pokésouls running around. Especially not in the cities.

Decision made, Xero stepped out into the light. "Hello," he said.

The girl squeaked in surprise as she whirled to face him. "H-hello?" She stammered.

"Would you mind coming with me?" The girl was very obviously staring at Wolf's unconscious body.

"I'll do what you want, just please don't hurt me," she said.

_Well, this is easy_, Xero said.

_She doesn't look like a fighter_, Acier pointed out. Xero narrowed his eyes at the girl suspiciously, but Acier was right, she didn't look like she could put up much resistance if she wanted to.

"You're coming with us then," Xero said, herding the girl ahead. Having a real citizen of the city would make it easier to leave, assuming she cooperated. "Acier," Xero said. Acier abided by the unspoken command and dealt a quick blow to the Kirlia, leaving the unsuspecting Pokémon in a heap. Xero hefted the psychic type over his shoulder.

"What did you do that for?" The girl cried, eyes wide with horror.

"Insurance," Xero explained. "If you try to cross me then you're Pokémon will pay the price. Play along and your Kirlia will be just fine." He gestured for her to move forward, and with one last horrified look at her partner, she did.

* * *

"And here we are in the great city of Lumiose, or next to it anyway," Sky said dramatically as she walked into the town. She was ignored by the rest of her companions. Scarlet and Liliana were at the front of the group, discussing something that Sky couldn't quite hear while Starlight and Eclipse bickered with the occasional interjection by Yunyi. Lucinda was her normal stoic self and trailed behind the group. "No one listens to me," Sky complained.

"I listen, I just don't generally care about what you have to say," Lucinda said.

Sky shot her a glare, but not one of her most vicious ones, an insult was better than no response at all.

_I always listen_, Locke assured. Sky spared her partner a wide grin before continuing to grumble about lack of acknowledgement.

"So this is the city," Starlight mused. "It doesn't look much different from the Outerlands."

"This isn't the city," Scarlet corrected. "That's the city." She pointed at the large grey wall that was just visible between the houses in the distance.

"You didn't think it was that easy to get into the city did you?" Eclipse asked.

Starlight shrugged. "I've never wanted to go to the city before so I never really thought about it."

* * *

Scarlet eagerly made her way to the gates. Unfortunately, she would be the only one allowed inside until she could procure passes for the others (excluding Lucinda and Sky, she was sure they had ways to get in anyway but Scarlet wasn't about to make it easier for them). She was so close to finally seeing Preston again and now that the walls were in sight Scarlet felt the excitement filling her.

A sudden yell made Scarlet pause. The source was a girl standing with a Luxray. She stood, pointing at Sky, shock and anger crossing her face.

Sky looked at the girl and said, "Do I know you?"

"Do you know us?" A different female voice demanded. It was a girl in ragged clothing who spoke this time, the blue-haired girl still just pointing. "We met before. In Olivine."

"I remember you," Lucinda said. "Did you find River?"

"Yes we did," the boy with them said, smiling brightly, a stark contrast to his two companions scowls. "Thanks for the help!"

"I'm pretty sure we paid her for that help," the wild girl reminded.

"Help's help," the boy said philosophically.

"Oh!" Sky exclaimed suddenly. "I do remember you guys!"

"You tried to kill me!" The blue-haired girl exclaimed.

Sky shrugged. "It happens."

"You don't seem like a great assassin," Starlight mused. "Apparently you tried to kill me and her and failed at both."

"We weren't sure we were supposed to kill you," Lucinda corrected quickly.

"And I didn't actually try to _kill_ berry girl, I just attacked her for fun," Sky added.

"Berry girl?" Eclipse said perplexed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Her name's Pecha," the friendly boy explained, gesturing to his blue-haired companion. "She doesn't like people commenting on it though."

"You commenting on how I don't like people commenting on it is actually more annoying," Pecha muttered. "And can we get back to her being here!" She pointed at Sky again.

"I can be wherever I want to be," Sky said.

"I'd prefer it if you weren't in the same town as us," the wild girl said.

"Hey!" Liliana suddenly exclaimed. "Will someone tell me what is going on? I don't know what's happening!"

Everyone turned to her, then glanced at each other. "Uh, well I'm Nevin," the boy said. "This is Zyra. I met them and their friend Nami when Nami was looking for her brother. Then we ran into Sky and Lucinda when we were looking for River who we were hoping could find Blake. We paid Lucinda to tell us where River is, then we found River and she sent us to the Mage's guild. There we met Gina and we found a special rock in a really terrible cave, then we went back to the Mage's Guild and it turned out Blake was actually there because he was with Nature's Guardians! Then we met Preston and he brought us here and now we're here," Nevin explained.

There was a long silence after his explanation, then Liliana broke it. "Uh thanks, a bit more than I needed, but thanks."

"Did you say you met Preston? Preston Rolfe?" Scarlet asked.

"Grey hair, has a Charizard," Pecha described.

"That's my husband!" Scarlet exclaimed.

"Huh," Pecha said. "That's strangely coincidental."

"I need to go and see him now," Scarlet said.

"Are you a citizen or do you need one of our passes?" Nevin wondered, holding out his day pass.

"She's married to a citizen so she should be one as well," Pecha said.

"You have a spare day pass? Would you mind if Liliana used it?" Scarlet asked. "I am a citizen, but Liliana isn't. I can get you another after I see Preston."

"Take mine," Zyra said, practically throwing it at her. "I don't like being in the city anyway."

"Should I even bother getting you another one?" Pecha asked looking amused.

Zyra shrugged. "Do whatever you want."

"Wait, who are all you guys?" Nevin asked before Scarlet could resume her course.

"Oh, right, I'm Scarlet. This is Liliana, Starlight, Eclipse, Yunyi and the assassins you know."

"Much too well," Pecha grumbled.

"I should be on my way now," Scarlet said. "Thank you for the pass."

"No problem," Zyra said. "I hate the city anyway."

"I'll come back tonight with passes for you," Scarlet told her companions. "I'll get the money for your two but I'm not getting you in the city," Scarlet said to the assassins.

"Very well," Lucinda agreed easily. Scarlet assumed the easy attitude would dissipate if she didn't return with the money. She hoped Preston wouldn't mind too much about all the money she'd been spending hiring assassins.

"I'll be back," Scarlet said again then turned and left, Liliana followings in her wake.

* * *

"So, what are we all going to do?" Sky asked with a smirk.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Pecha growled.

"Can I hang out with you guys?" Starlight asked. Between the assassins and the people who didn't like the assassins, Starlight figured she had more in common with the ones who didn't like the assassins.

"Of course!" Nevin said. "I love making new friends."

"They are not invited though," Pecha said, pointing at the assassins.

"We don't want them with us either," Eclipse replied.

"I think I'm offended," Sky said, a look of pretend hurt on her face.

"I have other things to do anyway," Lucinda said, walking away from the group.

Sky watched her go briefly, then sighed and gestured to her Scyther. "Let's go find something fun to do," she said to it.

Pecha let out a small breath of relief. The terror from when the tiny assassin had attacked her was still pretty fresh and Pecha would really prefer to not even be in the same region as her. She couldn't completely relax though, because she had a feeling she hadn't seen the last of Sky.


	30. Reunion

**Author's Note:**

**I hope you guys enjoy the new chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 26: Reunion

* * *

Pecha, Zyra and Nevin sat across from Starlight, Eclipse and Yunyi in a small cafe in the city-town. It was a bit of an awkward silence, that was finally broken by Yunyi.

"Why weren't we allowed in the city?" Yunyi asked quietly. "Scarlet didn't want us to come?"

"They only let members go inside," Zyra said derisively.

"Citizens, actually," Pecha corrected. "And they let Outerlanders in, just only during the day. And only if you know someone who's a citizen there already and has gotten permission to let you in. Or you go through an arduous serious of paperwork."

"How do they know if you're a citizen?" Starlight wondered.

"Citizens have ID cards," Pecha said. "Like this." Pecha handed the girl her ID.

"Pecha Woods," Starlight read.

"You're a citizen of the city?" Eclipse said. "You don't look like a city girl." He studied her suspiciously.

"I was born in the city but lived most my life in the Outerlands," Pecha explained. She reclaimed her ID from Starlight. "I should get back and see how Nami's doing. I'll see you guys later!"

"See ya Pecha!" Nevin exclaimed.

"Later," Zyra said with a lazy wave. Pecha returned the wave and headed out the door.

"So are either of you citizens?" Eclipse asked, looking at them distrustfully.

"No," Zyra scoffed. "As if I would want to live there!"

"I'm not either," Nevin said. "But I don't mind it there."

"You've both been in there though, right?" Starlight asked. "What's it like?"

"Grey and boring," Zyra replied.

"There's lots of technology and confusing things," Nevin added.

Starlight blinked at the description and waited for them to say more. They didn't. "Right," she said finally. "Sounds...interesting." The awkward silence returned.

* * *

Pecha left the cafe and headed for the gates to the city. On the way there, she was stopped by a voice. "You are Pecha Woods, correct?"

Pecha recognized the voice and turned to stare suspiciously at the speaker. Lucinda stood looking back at her impassively. Lucinda hadn't given her as much of a reason to distrust her as Sky had, but Pecha was hardly going to blindly trust someone who willingly hung out with the tiny assassin.

"I am," Pecha confirmed cautiously. "How did you know my last name?"

"I heard you talking in the cafe. Your father was a scientist." It wasn't phrased as a question, but Pecha nodded in confirmation anyway. Pecha hadn't noticed the tall woman in the restaurant at all and wondered how she was able to avoid detection when she was a rather eye-drawing person. Especially with her trademark red scarf.

"Do you have contact with other scientists?"

"Why?" Pecha asked. She didn't, but it was possible contemporaries of her father might talk to her. What she'd found so far of her family, he father seemed to be quite a respected scientist. His old travel journal had helped her immensely growing up after all. Pecha was better with her powers than any of the other Pokésouls she'd met so far.

"I would like to fund some research."

"What kind of research?" Pecha asked immediately suspicious.

"I want to find a cure for a certain disease. It's called the Draining Sickness."

"The Draining Sickness," Pecha repeated. It sounded familiar. "The sickness that drains people of energy leaving them weak and kills them if they don't receive regular treatment."

"Yes," Lucinda confirmed.

"You want to cure that? Why?" Pecha wondered. Nothing about her short acquaintance with the woman had led Pecha to believe her altruistic.

Lucinda stared at the girl for a long moment, then finally responded. "My brother and my father have the illness. I pay for their medicine, but it isn't a cure. I want them to be cured."

Pecha stared at the woman in surprise. That hadn't been at all what she was expecting. "Your family has the disease," she repeated in surprise.

"That is what I just said," Lucinda said.

"Sorry," Pecha said, her opinion of the older woman suddenly raised by the revelation. "I don't know if I can help you though. My father wasn't studying medicine."

"But he must have known people who were. I know that research on a cure for the disease is no one's top priority. I'd like to make it one."

This was true, Draining Sickness was extremely rare, though it did run in families so it wasn't surprising both her father and brother had it. "You're just talking about paying them, right, you aren't going to...threaten anyone. Are you?" Pecha asked.

"I don't want to give them any reason to not cure it for real," Lucinda said.

Pecha hoped that meant that she wouldn't threaten anyone, but the narrowing eyes of the other woman prevented her from getting a clearer promise.

"I can reach out to my father's contacts, but I can't promise they'll listen to me."

"They'll listen to you more than me," Lucinda replied. "I have money, name a price and I'll pay it."

"I don't need any money," Pecha said. "I'll see what the others say I guess."

Lucinda seemed uncomfortable with this. "I have to pay you," she said.

"What? Why?" Pecha wondered.

"If I pay you I can hold you accountable," Lucinda replied.

"But I just said that I don't even know if I can contact these people."

"I will pay you upon successful completion of the task of course. So tell me what you want."

Pecha really couldn't think of anything she wanted. She considered just asking for money to get the conversation over with, then thought of something better. "How about this: I help you, and you help me. My friends and I are going against Nature's Guardians and we can use all the help we can get. If I help you get the scientists, you'll help us fight Nature's Guardians." Pecha never would have made this sort of deal with Sky, but the older mercenary felt more trustworthy. Nothing the woman had done so far had made her seem likely to go back on her word. "We have a deal," she said. "We'll be in touch." Lucinda walked away leaving Pecha alone again. Pecha stared. After her for a moment, then remembered her original task and restarted her journey towards the gates.

* * *

Kirtus watched with some alarm as the red dot moved back up to the upper level. Confused, Kirtus stood and left the house. He kept track of the dot on the map on his phone and walked steadily towards it. The dot was moving quickly and headed straight for the gate. Kirtus felt extreme unease and began running, but the dot went through the gate before he could get there.

The range on his tracker wasn't meant to cover the entire Outerlands. If they'd taken her out there, well now they had just lost another person. Shock and horror began to fill him over the mistake he'd made at the expense of Mira, but he shook it off. He'd have plenty of time to hate himself later, right now the Guardian Force needed to know about this.

* * *

Kai looked at the screen in shock. "How...?" She gasped.

"What is it?" River asked from her seat beside Kai. River leaned over to peek at Kai's screen. The image was of a boy slung over the back of an Aegislash being led by a silver haired man and a nervous looking green-haired girl. "You know them?"

"It's Mira!" Kai exclaimed. "And that must be Wolf the Aegislash is carrying." It was hard to tell as he was face down, but the shocking white hair was still clear.

"Where are they?" Preston demanded, striding over to look at the screen.

"They're headed out of the city," Kai said tracking them on the security cameras. "They're already almost there."

Preston pulled out his phone and dialed a number. The phone was still ringing as the gate opened letting the silver haired man through with Mira and Wolf. "It's too late," Preston said when the gate guard finally answered, hanging up the phone.

"How did Mira run into them?" Kai asked, her voice becoming slightly shrill with panic.

"Who is Mira?" River asked. "Is she a Guardian too?"

"She's a dancer!" Kai exclaimed.

"Was that Xero?" Nami asked, unable to see the screen herself due to everyone bring squished in behind Kai, but able to use Yuki's vision to see from the Frosslass's view hovering over people's heads.

"Probably," Blake said. "Rumor is that Xero's a Pokésoul with and Aegislash partner."

"If we chase them now we have a chance," Wyvrn said, half-way to the door.

"No we don't," Kai said. "The first thing he does out the gate is going to be flying away. He'll have already taken off by now!"

"So we just sit here and do nothing some more? That worked great the first time," Wyvrn said derisively.

"They were both alive," Blake said. "They wouldn't bother taking them out alive if they weren't going to keep them that way. Initially at least. They must be going to the base."

"And we don't know where that is," Kai pointed out.

"You don't know where the base is?" Gina wondered, directing the question at Blake.

"I know where it was, but it flies. It could be anywhere now," Blake replied apologetically.

"I didn't see Altair in the footage," Christopher said. "She must still be in the city somewhere."

"None of you are to go anywhere alone," Preston ordered. "That includes the non-officers. We don't know what they know."

"But Pecha went out by herself earlier," Nami said. "Do you think she's okay?"

"Well, she wasn't with Xero so she's probably fine," Kai said. "Does she have a phone?"

The answer was forestalled by the sound of the door opening. A blond woman Kai immediately recognized came in followed by a brown haired girl Kai didn't know.

"Scarlet," Preston said, his expression even, but voice full of joy.

"Preston!" Scarlet exclaimed. She ran over to hug him which turned out being fairly uncomfortable as Preston was still stuck in the mob around Kai's chair. In the end it ended up being a group hug between Scarlet, Preston, Gina and a very unhappy Wyvrn.

"I'm glad you're alright Scarlet," Kai greeted her friend once the hug was over and Wyvrn had stalked away to stand in the corner with Volke. The others moved away from Kai's chair as well to give everyone some breathing room.

"It's good to see you too Kai," Scarlet said.

"Who are all these people?" The brown-haired girl wondered, giving Wyvrn a suspicious glare which he returned readily. Her eyes continued and fell upon Blake. "Do I know you from somewhere?" She asked.

"I don't think so," Blake replied.

"You're a part of Nature's Guardians!" Scarlet exclaimed. "We talked once!"

"It's okay Scarlet," Preston assured, laying a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder. "He was there because they threatened his sister but he's helping us now."

"It's true," River said. "And I'm glad to see Liliana is feeling better."

"How do you know there was something wrong with me?" Liliana demanded.

"She's the one who sent us to Starlight," Scarlet replied. "River Mayer."

"Starlight?" Kai wondered. "Who's that?"

"I'm sorry," Christina interrupted. "But I'm very confused, who are these people and what's going on?"

"This is my wife Scarlet," Preston introduced.

"And this is my friend Liliana," Scarlet added. "I was undercover in Nature's Guardians and Liliana was helping me. But our cover got blown and we had to go."

"That's Wyvrn and Kai," Preston introduced, solely for Liliana's sake as Scarlet knew them already. "Nami and Blake are helping and they have some friends who may come help as well. Gina is an emissary from the Mage's Guild and Christopher is a lower level information dealer who's also helping us. Christina was working in the power plant that blew up and is assisting us now. Then River and Volke you sent here."

"I only sent River," Scarlet corrected with a mutter. "What were you all looking at when we came in?" She asked in a louder voice.

"Mira was captured," Kirtus yelled as he entered the room, answering Scalret's question unintentionally.

Kirtus had clearly been running for quite some time. Kai felt suspicion enter her mind as she looked at the boy. "How did you find out?" She asked.

"I saw her get taken," he panted.

"You just happened to be there?" Wyvrn said doubtfully. "And did nothing. Again."

"I didn't actually see it with...my eyes," Kirtus corrected.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kai demanded.

Kirtus held up his phone. "I was tracking her on here."

Kai forced herself very still to hold in her rage. "You didn't plant a tracker on her, and send her out there on purpose, did you?"

Kirtus's silence and guilty expression were all the proof Kai needed. "How could you do that?" She yelled. Ken's face flashed through her mind. No, she wouldn't lose Mira and Wolf to Nature's Guardians too. She wouldn't lose more people to them. "She isn't even a fighter, she's a dancer!"

"I didn't force her," Kirtus said defensively, though his tone lacked conviction.

"Though you likely worded it as do this or Wolf dies," Wyvrn surmised dryly.

"Of course she'd do it! She's a good person who likes helping people it doesn't mean she's qualified for this!" Kai yelled.

"Calm down Kai," Preston said. "Yelling at Kirtus won't help us find Mira, though I understand the urge. Kirtus, if everything that happens to Mira now is entirely your fault. Remember that next time you want to put someone else in danger." Kirtus nodded guiltily.

"This is the tracking data I got before she went out of range," Kirtus said meekly, handing the device to Kai, who had stopped yelling but continued to glare. After handing over the device Kirtus went to hide against the wall where Christina stared at him, looking conflicted about whether to go to him or not. She apparently decided to, walking to the boy's side.

"Mira's your dancer friend, right?" Scarlet said. "She's a psychic Pokésoul isn't she?"

"Yes, do you think they want her because of that?" Kai wondered.

"A psychic Pokésoul removed the brainwashing on Liliana, so it's not unlikely."

"You were brainwashed?" Nami said in horror.

"Are we sure she's safe to be around?" Wyvrn asked, giving Liliana a disturbed glance.

"She's safer than you," Kai retorted, though it was without any real dislike.

"I don't think she was ever even completely brainwashed," Scarlet said. "And by the way, we owe a couple of assassins some money," Scarlet added to Preston

"For the letter? I already paid them," Preston replied.

"I... Hired them again," Scarlet admitted.

"Assassins?" Christina said in confusion.

"It's fine," Preston said. "As long as you're safe." Scarlet gave him a relieved smile.

"Who're the assassins?" Gina asked.

"Sky and Lucinda," River replied.

"Sky? Sky Mayfly?" Nami wondered.

"You know Sky too?" Scarlet asked.

"When did you meet an assassin?" Blake asked, looking perturbed.

"I only met her briefly, apparently she did try to kill Pecha though," Nami replied.

"Sky tried to kill Pecha?" River repeated. "Why?"

"Pecha, the girl with the Luxray?" Scarlet wondered. "We met her in the city-town. And Sky claimed that she didn't actually try to kill her."

"You saw Pecha?" Nami said. "Good, that means she's okay."

"Can we just have everyone go through and tell everyone else who they know," Kai suggested dryly. "At this point I have no idea who knows who or who's tried to kill who and it's getting confusing."

"I've met some people and found all of them lacking," Wyvrn said immediately.

"Unhelpful," Kai muttered.

"I've met a lot of people," Volke said. "They were mostly annoying. They kept asking River for stuff."

"Never mind," Kai said exasperated. "We need to focus on finding Mira anyway. Wolf at least knows how to defend himself, Mira doesn't."

"Your tracker, does it only work in the city or does it have a limited range?" Preston asked Kirtus.

"It has a limited range," he replied.

"So if we get an idea of what area they're in we can use the tracker to find the base,"

Preston surmised.

"We don't have any idea where it is now. We need to at least figure out the region they're in," Kai said sadly. Pensive silence fell across the room as the occupants each wondered what the best course of action might be. All except for Volke that is, as he really didn't care about what was happening as long as it didn't put Volt or River in any danger.

* * *

High in the sky in the base of Nature's Guardians, Razan approached one of his people.

"Alex, I want you to go to Lumiose," Razan ordered.

"Isn't Altair there already?" Alex asked, looking at his leader with a lethargic expression.

"Yes, but I want you to go back her up. Xero's come back and I want you to replace him."

Alex gave an over the top groan but consented. "Let's go Mars." Alex left the room followed by his Salamance. Razan watched through the window as the man and his Slamance took off and flew away.

"Is everything alright?" Erika asked as she came into the room.

"Yes, I believe everything is going quite well," he replied with a smirk.

* * *

Sky walked through the city, Locke at her side, once again having used her fake ID to enter the city. _This place isn't that great_, she mused.

Locke shrugged. _It's certainly not better than the Outerlands, _she agreed.

_Where do you want to go_? Sky wondered.

_We go look around the lower level for jobs_, Locke suggested.

_Good a place as any_, Sky agreed.

The two wandered the faintly lighted streets of the lower level, passing poor people hurrying about on the street.

"Sky Mayfly?" The address or was a cold, female voice.

Sky turned. "What?"

"You're an assassin, right?"

"Yep. What's it to you?"

"My name is Altair. I have a job for you."

"I'm listening."


	31. No Signal

Chapter 27: No Signal

* * *

Wolf awoke, feeling as if he'd been asleep for months. "Uhh," he groaned, holding his head. "Silvia?" He went to stand up but found himself restrained. He looked down and found his arms shacked with chains connected to the wall. His memory abruptly returned and he groaned again. He had been captured by Altair. At one point he'd woken and spoke with her, but the conversation was very short. The room he was in now wasn't the same room he'd spoken with her in. It was dark concrete cell, though it wouldn't be as dark during the day with the large window on the wall. He looked out trying to see landmarks, but it was too dark to make anything out.

He looked around the cell, searching. for clues, but the room was mostly empty. What he did see was a human shaped lump lying on the floor near him. _Wolf_? A tired voice asked in his mind, distracting him.

_Silvia_! Wolf replied immediately. _Where are you? I don't see you!_

_We must be in different rooms_, Silvia said._ I don't know where I am. _

_At least we can still talk_, Wolf sighed.

_Is Mira with you?_ Silvia asked nervously.

_Mira? Why would she be here_? Wolf suddenly remembered the slumped form next to him and looked at it, trying to peer through the darkness and see if he recognized the person. _She might be_, Wolf said, still unable to make out any actual features or even tell if the person's hair was green.

_Kira is with me_, Silvia informed.

_How did they end up here?_

_Kira says that Kirtus put a tracking device on Mira so that when she got caught it would lead them to you._

_That was a terrible idea_, Wolf said. _She's here because of me?_

_It wasn't your idea_, Silvia pointed out.

_I guess the plan didn't work though, as we haven't been rescued. _

_We're not in Lumiose anymore_, Siliva explained.

_Where are we then?_

_I'm not sure, Kira was knocked out before we arrived, but I assume it's the headquarters for Nature's Guardians. _

_Great, just where I want to be_, Wolf sighed.

Wolf sat in silence, idly chatting with Silvia as he waited for Mira to wake up. So far no one had entered the room and Wolf wasn't sure if that was good or bad. If they forgot about them, they wouldn't be tortured or anything but eventually they would starve to death. It was better than lying drugged on the floor of Altair's warehouse though.

"Uhhh," Mira groaned, her body curling into itself obscuring her features.

"Mira?" Wolf said gently. "Are you alright?"

Her head slowly raised up and she locked eyes with Wolf. "Wolf? I'm fine. Are you okay?"

Wolf shot her a confident grin. "I'm great," he assured. "I mean, I'm stuck in jail with little chance of escape, but I'm still alive!"

Mira gave him a look that clearly doubted his sanity, but she seemed less frightened, which was the point of the comment anyway.

"Kira said that you're here because you were trying to help me," Wolf said quietly.

"It was Kirtus's idea," Mira explained. "They would take me because I'm a Psychic Pokésoul and then Kirtus could follow the tracker back to you. He wasn't expecting them to leave the city though."

"Thanks for trying, but you shouldn't have done that," Wolf said. "Kirtus shouldn't have asked you to do that, this doesn't have anything to do with you and now you're stuck here too."

"I wanted to help," Mira said sadly.

"You still have the tracking device?" Wolf asked.

Mira blinked, then felt for the device on her leg. It was still there. She nodded.

"Then you are helping. That will make it easier for everyone to find us. I still don't think you should be here, but you are helping."

Mira smiled gratefully at him, then went back to looking at them floor.

* * *

Pecha returned to her father's lab, a new mission in hand. She opened the door and let herself into the musty interior. Once all the excitement was over, the first thing she would have to do is clean the place out. It was really only fit for dust and Rattata at the moment. Her steps sent clouds of dust spiraling into the air and Pecha covered her mouth with her shirt. She threw all the windows open in the hopes of clearing the air, but didn't have high hopes.

Pecha didn't have the luxury of waiting for the air to clear, so she braved the dust and sat down at a desk where a computer sat. It then occurred to Pecha that she had no idea how to use it. _I should have brought someone who knows how this stuff works_, she remarked to Zap.

The Luxray had taken one look at the interior and refused to enter, so she was sitting outside, keeping guard. _That would have been a good idea_, Zap agreed dryly.

Pecha rolled her eyes even though the Pokémon couldn't see it, and began pressing buttons on the computer. _This isn't working_, Pecha sighed after all she'd accomplished was making a small light change from green to red and display the words 'no signal' a few times. Abandoning the computer, Pecha began opening the drawers of the desk. This, unfortunately, caused more clouds of dust. _I'm going to have to burn these clothes after this_, Pecha mused. She found a few journals in the desk and some recording devices, all of which seemed to have notes recorded on them.

Pecha searched the office room and finally gave up, sighing and leaning back against the wall. As soon as she touched it, it lit up and she jerked around, startled. A rectangular panel on the wall was lit up with a screen welcoming her.

_It knows who I am_! Pecha said, nervously.

_Well, you must've been here before_, Zap replied. _It makes sense it would know who you are_.

Pecha conceded the point, but was still disconcerted. She cautiously touched the screen and watched as the welcome screen was replaced by a large number of buttons, each labeled with different things.

Pecha touched the one labeled, 'Phone' and waited to see what would happen. The screen refreshed to show a list of people's names and their phone numbers. "Here we go," Pecha mumbled. Luckily, her father seemed to have been extremely organized, as when she clicked on a name it would also list who the person was. Of course, this was all out of date now, but she could get Nami or someone to look the people up and see if they were still active in the science community. Pecha wrote down all the names and numbers of scientists listed then tried to turn the machine off again. She managed to get back to the screen with all the buttons, but there was no off button. After trying everything she could think of, including yelling "Turn off!" at it, she gave up and left it on.

"Let's head back to the headquarters," Pecha said to Zap. Zap nodded her large head and the two left the lab again, headed back to their friends.

* * *

The group in the Guardian Force office was currently trying to figure out what the best course of action would be. "We could try boosting the signal of the tracker," Volke suggested. He was met with rather startled eyes, probably because it was the first non-aggressive sentence to come from the imposing man.

"That, actually sounds like a good idea," Kai said, obviously trying to keep the surprise from her tone and failing.

"Good idea Volke," River said with a smile. Volke glanced away from her seeming...embarrassed? Kai shook her head and gave up trying to figure him out.

"I'll help," Kirtus said. "I'm the one who made it in the first place."

"How much range do you think you can add?" Preston asked.

"Don't know," Volke replied.

Preston clearly expected an elaboration, but Volke gave none. After it was clear no response was coming, Preston said, "Boost it as much as you can." Kirtus nodded and the two went off into a corner with Kirtus's sensor.

"I'd like to see if I can come up with a method of shielding our minds," Scarlet said. "It may be possible to use magic to prevent Razan from getting in our heads."

"That would certainly be useful," Preston agreed.

"I can help," Gina offered. "I'm not very advanced, but I know a little."

"Thank you," Scarlet said with a smile. "I'd also like to get Starlight's help, but she's still in the city-town."

"So are Nevin and Zyra," Nami added. "I haven't talked to them in a while."

"Nature's Guardians shouldn't have any idea they're with us though," Blake pointed out. "They were barely with us here, and they weren't seen at the Mage's Guild."

"Yeah, and Zyra would beat up anyone who came after them anyway I suppose," Nami added. "What can I do to help though?"

"Nami?" Pecha appeared, her head poking around the door. "Can I talk to you for a second?" Nami nodded and the girl and her Frosslass left.

"I'd like to go back outside to work with Starlight," Scarlet said. "Should I bring her back here or work out there?"

"Since you're going to be working on magic it's probably safer to stay out there," Preston said, a conflicted look on his face. "I don't like sending you away when you just got back, but the last thing we need to deal with is people on our side trying to arrest you."

Scarlet nodded, a sad smile on her face. "I'll be just outside this time though, and I'll have my phone." She waved the device. A small smile graced Preston's face for a moment before it fell back into his leader expression.

"Take Wyvrn with you," he said.

"No," Scarlet refused.

"No?"

"When you find Altair you're going to need him. Starlight and Eclipse can both fight, so I'll have plenty of backup," she told him.

Preston shook his head. "I don't need any more backup. We're in the Guardian Force building, if need be I can ask the others for help. I'm not risking you getting captured, take Wyvrn."

"...Fine," Scarlet conceded.

"Wyvrn!" Preston called. "Go with Scaret and Gina. Keep them safe." Wyvrn nodded. "Be careful," Preston said to Scarlet.

"You too," Scarlet said, giving her husband a quick kiss before heading to the door. "Love you!" She called out as she left, Gina hurrying after and Wyvrn following.

"Blake and Liliana," Preston called. "I'd like the two of you to see if you can put together a map of the base of Nature's Guardians. As soon as we find it we're going in and knowing the layout will be a huge help." The two glanced at each other, then back at Preston and nodded in agreement. They sat across from each other at a desk and began making notes.

"Kai, keep looking for Altair," Preston commanded.

"Of course," she replied.

"I'll help as well," River said.

Christopher walked over to Kai and River. "I may be able to help as well," he said.

"Pull up a chair," Kai said with a wave of her hand. He did so.

* * *

Christina looked around at everyone who had something to do and felt her inadequacy acutely. She had nothing to do once again. Not even a task to _pretend_ like she was helping. Pecha and Nami reappeared. "You don't need us here, do you?" Pecha asked. "We have an errand to run."

"No," Preston said. "Go ahead." Pecha nodded and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Christina exclaimed suddenly, running to the other girl. "Can I come?"

Preston looked back at her, confused. "You want to go with them?"

"I'm not doing anything here, at least I'll be out of the way with them," she replied.

"It's not safe out there," Preston pointed out.

"It's not like anyone's looking for me," Christina countered.

"I don't think anyone's after me either," Pecha offered.

"Just try not to get kidnapped," Preston said.

"I'll try," Christina replied. She followed Pecha out the door.

"What are we doing?" Christina asked as she followed the two older girls into the elevator.

"We're going to go talk to some scientists," Pecha replied.

"Why?" Christina wondered.

"I made a deal with someone," Pecha answered vaguely. "First we need to see if any of the people's who's names I have are actually still practicing."

"We should go to my house in Goldenrod," Nami said. "There's a computer there and so far Lumiose is the only city that's been attacked so it'll be safer for us there too."

Christina nodded in understanding and the three headed for the transporter building.

* * *

"So what do you want me to do?" Sky asked.

"Nature's Guardians wants to bring the city down. I want your help," Altair replied.

"Yeah that's great and all, but what is you actually want me to _do_?"

"The best way to kill something is to chop off its head. I want you to help me kill the president."

"No," Sky rejected point blank.

"No?"

"It's not a job I want to do, and it won't take down the city anyway," Sky replied.

"Why wouldn't it?" Altair asked, her curiosity overcoming her annoyance.

"The city isn't an organism, cutting off the head won't work. You kill the president, and they'll just get another one. And this one will be dedicated to keeping Outerlanders out. That's something neither of us want. I'm sure I'd be able to bypass the new security of course, but why make it harder on myself?"

"So you think the city wouldn't be changed by such an act?"

"Not in a way that would help you. You had a better idea with the power plants. Take down the things that make the city the city."

"You seem to have an idea," Altair prompted.

Sky grinned. "If you want to take down the city, you have to take down the wall." Sky made a sweeping gesture towards the large concrete obstruction.

"Take down the wall? But it's not the real thing keeping people out. The actual barrier is the force field."

"We could sabotage that as well I suppose, but the main point isn't the actual destruction, it's the image of it. Everyone will see a picture of the city, a giant hole in one of its famed walls. That'll grab attention, don't ya think?"

Altair stared speculatively at the walls. "That it might. You would help me with this?"

"Sure," Sky said. "That's the kind of chaos I can get behind. Besides, if there's a huge hole in the wall it'll make sneaking in even easier for me. Of course, I do expect to be paid."

"You will get your money," Altair assured.

Sky grinned again. "It looks like we have a deal then. This is going to be fun."

* * *

**Note:**

**When Pecha is trying to turn the computer on, she assumed the monitor was the computer so when it says all she could do was get the light of change color is because she was just turning the monitor on and off. I had a bit too much fun writing that part. **

**Also I could not remember where Nami is from, if I ever even mentioned it, so if I got it wrong, please let me know. **


	32. Potatoes

**Author's Note:**

**Thanks, as always, to all my reviewers! I could not think a good name for this chapter. I really tried, but I got nothing. It's entirely possible that all the chapters from now on will be named after tiny pointless conversations. I hope everyone enjoys the (poorly named) new chapter! **

* * *

Chapter 28: Potatoes

* * *

Wolf and Mira sat making small talk as the sun rose. It was soon bright enough to see the room they were in, but this wasn't much of an advantage as they were in a barred cell in an empty room. "I think we've been stuck here long enough," Wolf said eventually. The remaining drugs were finally out of his system and he felt almost back to normal, though he was ridiculously hungry.

"You want to break out?" Mira asked, her voice trembling slightly with nerves. Wolf shot her a confident grin and reached out to Silvia, feeling her fairy powers fill him. He glowed and Mira looked at him with wide-eyes. Wolf reached for the bars of their cell to rip it off, but the door flew open just as he reached the first bar. A severe looking woman came in and glared at him. A Braviary fluttered in behind her and snapped at Wolf through the bars. He jerked back, Silvia's power fleeing him in his surprise.

"I thought you'd have tried that earlier," the woman said coldly.

"Expecting that, were you?" Wolf asked.

She ignored the question. "My name is Erika," she said. "I will be your jailer for a little while." She settled herself into a wooden chair that was place facing the cell and her Braviary fluttered up to perch on the back.

"Why do you work here?" Mira asked. "This place is terrible!"

"Razan wants to make the world a better place, don't you?" Erika replied.

"Of course, but your way of doing it is wrong. How does hurting people make anything better?"

"The cities are a poison and they hurt the people in the Outerlands. We shouldn't have to suffer under them any longer."

"The cities don't hurt the Outerlands," Wolf refuted.

"They do," Erika reiterated. "I've seen it."

"How?" Wolf asked. "At worst we ignore you."

"Your people are richer, you come out here and buy all of our food. You use technology we can't afford or create to remain in your lofty position. We don't have any chance of getting inside, you know that you're safe behind your walls. We know that we have no protections like that."

"But the city dwellers don't want to hurt people out here," Wolf said.

"Not all of you. But enough of you do."

"What do you mean?" Mira asked.

"Some look down on us, pity us for where we were born. They treat us like dirt and judge us by your city rules," Erika said.

"And Razan is any better? I know not everyone in the city is perfect, but I know for sure that he's terrible," Wolf said.

"He isn't!" Erika refuted. "He saved my life."

"He saved you?" Mira said in disbelief.

"Yes," Erika replied. "I lived in a small town near Goldenrod before I came here. One day some people from the city came to visit and when they saw me using magic they wanted to kill me." Her tone was clinical, almost as if the story had happened to someone else, but Mira could tell she was being sincere. When people lied it gave off a certain psychic feel, so far everything Erika had said, Erika believed to be true.

"What happened?" Mira asked.

"Razan stopped them," Erika replied. "He fought them off and saved me. Razan understands us. City people like you, you never can."

"I get that you're grateful, but haven't you repaid him by now?" Wolf asked.

"I owe him my life. If not for him I would be dead, so what life I have left I devote to him and his cause," Erika stated.

Mira admired the woman's determination. Too bad it was being used in a terrible way. Having her for an ally would have been nice. "Can't you help him see he's wrong?" Mira suggested.

"He isn't," Erika said. "I don't particularly wish to see people die, but the city supremacy must end. That much I know."

Wolf and Mira looked at each other and were silent. There wasn't anything either one could say to convince her she was wrong.

* * *

"So, what's your story?" Zyra asked, the group had left the cafe and we're now walking around the city-town.

"What do you mean?" Starlight wondered.

"What are you doing here and how'd you get involved in all this stuff," Zyra replied vaguely.

"Well, Sky and Lucinda tried to kill me or save me, I'm still not sure which," Starlight answered. "Then Eclipse kidnapped me."

"I helped you," Eclipse snapped.

"By kidnapping me."

"He's a kidnapper?" Zyra said, staring at the male with suspicious eyes.

"A bunch of assassins were after her and she needed to be alive to help me," Eclipse said.

"So you kidnapped her," Nevin said cheerfully.

"You don't find that disturbing?" Zyra asked.

"No, it's like in a book!" Nevin said excitedly. "They meet in bad circumstances but end up saving the world together!"

"I love stories like that," Yunyi offered quietly.

"They're great, aren't they?" Nevin enthused. The two were soon off on a tangent about what adventure stories (though some sounded suspiciously like romance novels) they'd read and which ones were they're favorites. Zyra decided to ignore them.

"So what did you need her help with?" Zyra asked, jerking her thumb in the direction of Starlight.

"None of you business," Eclipse snapped.

"No need to be so mean," Zyra said, irritated.

"He has a mental issue that I can help with, being a psychic Pokésoul," Starlight clarified. Eclipse gave her an annoyed look, but didn't protest her explanation.

"Well I already knew he had mental issues," Zyra muttered. Darkfire snickered appreciatively in her mind.

Eclipse apparently didn't hear as he didn't glare at Zyra. "Don't make it sound like I'm crazy," he growled at Starlight.

"I didn't say you were crazy! But you do have a mental issue," Starlight defended.

"That makes it sound like I'm crazy."

"So you're not crazy?" Zyra clarified.

"No!" Eclipse exclaimed.

"What mental problem do you have then?" Nevin wondered, an innocent expression of curiosity on his face.

"Back off," Eclipse growled.

"Don't be mean to Nevin," Zyra said with a glare. "He hasn't done anything to you."

Yunyi was shrinking backwards with Devoir, the two seemingly trying to physically avoid the argument.

"Clam down you two," Starlight commanded, inserting herself between Zyra and Eclipse. "Let's just leave Eclipse's problems alone and Eclipse will behave himself, right?" She gave him a hard look.

He glared for a moment, then backed off. "Fine," he said. "I'll be civil."

"I don't care about civility," Zyra retorted. "Just don't be a jerk."

"That should seems like a good motto to live by," Starlight commented.

Nevin nodded his head, "I always try to not be a jerk," he said.

"I don't think that requires much effort on your part," Zyra replied. Nevin just grinned.

"Starlight!" Scarlet called, appearing in front of the group with Gina and Wyvrn.

"Hi Scarlet," Starlight greeted.

"Gina!" Nevin said happily.

"Hello Nevin, Zyra," Gina said politely. "It's good to see you again."

"What are you doing out here? With that maniac?" Zyra asked gesturing at Wyvrn.

"I'm here to protect them," Wyvrn said, narrowing his eyes at Zyra.

"Well, I'm sure you'll get along with this guy," Zyra said, slapping Eclipse on the shoulder, which drew her a dirty look. "You're both crazy."

"I'm not crazy," Ecilpse and Wyvrn both spat at her. They shared a look. "Wyvrn," Wyvrn said, extending a hand.

"...Eclipse." Eclipse shook his hand.

"I think something terrible may have just occurred," Zyra muttered.

"Wyvrn's not that bad," Gina said. "I spent a while trapped in a building with him."

Scarlet shrugged. "It's Preston's problem, not mine," she said flippantly. "We need to go somewhere to work, you know a good place?"

"Oh! I know the perfect place!" Zyra exclaimed.

"The woods?" Nevin guessed.

"No," Zyra refuted. "It's...uh..._near_ the woods."

"So, the woods," Gina concluded. Zyra crossed her arms and glared at the two.

"We should stay in populated areas," Scarlet said. "Away from the crowd, but close enough that someone'll notice if someone comes after us."

"Why don't we sit over there?" Starlight suggested, pointing to a grassy park settled in the center of town.

"Looks good to me," Scarlet agreed.

* * *

Pecha, Nami and Christina emerged from the transporter into Goldenrod. Christina looked around in curiosity.

"Have you never been here before?" Pecha asked at the girl's obvious wonder.

"I've barely even left the lower level before. Lumiose is the only place I've ever been. This place looks very similar through."

"All the cities look pretty similar on the surface," Nami said. "If you look closer though you can see the differences."

Christina nodded and continued looking around in interest as the group walked to Nami's house. "So why are we going to talk to scientists?" Christina asked.

"I want to hire some to cure a disease," Pecha replied. "Well, not me really, it's Lucinda who does."

"Lucinda?" Christina repeated. "Who's that?"

"You haven't met her?" Nami asked. Christina shook her head. "I'm having trouble keeping track of who has met who," she muttered.

"She's a mercenary," Pecha said. "And not someone I would generally trust, but I think in this case we can believe her."

Christina shrugged. She'd never met any mercenaries before so really had no opinion on the matter.

"Here we are," Nami said as they walked up to a small house on a quiet street. "It shouldn't be too bad in here. I hired a service to keep it in good condition." Nami unlocked the door and the girls entered into the living room.

It was in good shape, as Nami had hoped, with very little dust or damages anywhere. It did give an vacant feel though, with the complete lack of stuff. "It's nice to be home," Nami said quietly. "Next time I'll have Blake come as well." She stood for a moment, soaking up the feeling of being home, before she led Christina and Pecha through a door and into the office area where a computer was set up.

"It'll be out of date by now, but it should work for what we need," Nami said.

"Alright, let's do this!" Pecha exclaimed, handing over her list of names. With that, Nami began her search.

* * *

"So you sent a girl who doesn't really know how to fight off the get kidnapped," Volke said. "Great plan."

"They were supposed to be keeping Wolf in the lower level," Kirtus said, his voice full of guilt and extreme weariness.

Volke nodded, his expression extremely unimpressed. Every so often his gaze would flick over to where River, Kai and Christopher were working.

"Is something bothering you?" Kirtus asked after he'd done this several times.

"Of course not," Volke scoffed, putting his full attention into the device they were working on. But after a few moments his eyes slid back over to the others. "He's getting awfully friendly with her," he muttered.

"Who? Christopher?" Kirtus wondered and looked over at the homeless man. He was sitting between the two girls and was leaning over occasionally to look at their screens. Currently he had one hand on the back of River's chair and was leaning over to look at her laptop screen. Volke appeared to be trying to kill him with his glare. "Is River your girlfriend?" Kirtus wondered.

Volke hid his face under his hood even more and mumbled something Kirtus thought was a no, but he wasn't sure if Volke had actually uttered a complete sentence.

"Well, she doesn't look very impressed by him," Kirtus said, trying to reassure the other man. He gestured to where she sat giving Christopher an annoyed expression and waving him away.

"That's true," Volke mused, seeming somewhat happier.

"She'd probably be impressed if you can get this scanner to reach a larger area," Kirtus suggested, feeling somewhat manipulative, but comforting himself with the knowledge that what he said was probably true.

"You think?" Volke said, suddenly paying a lot more attention to the pieces of metal in front of him.

Kirtus nodded. "Girls are always impressed by heroism," he said. This he didn't know for sure, but it was a trope often seen in books, so there had to be some truth to it, right?

"I guess that explains why you don't have a girlfriend," Volke replied. Kirtus suddenly didn't feel guilty about lying to him anymore.

* * *

"This is the potato room," Liliana said, drawing a rectangle on the large piece of paper that was lying on the table between her and Blake. They already had a rough sketch of the base drawn out with shapes and labels drawn on the paper and what they thought each building was used for.

"The potato room?" Blake repeated with confusion. "I must've never been in there."

"It was a room full of potatoes," Liliana elaborated unnecessarily. They were trying to fill in the rooms of each of the buildings as best they could, but it turned out neither of them had actually gotten around that much, even with Liliana's snooping.

"Why did they need so many potatoes?" Blake wondered. "There weren't any other vegetables?"

"A few, but mostly potatoes!" Liliana said. The two were apparently both easily distracted and kept going off topic into conversations such as the one happening currently.

"I don't even remember eating any potatoes while I was there..." Blake mused.

"Maybe they're planning to make potato weapons," Liliana suggested. "They're solid, I've thrown them at people before."

"Why were you throwing potatoes at people?"

"My family owns a tavern and some of the customers were mean, so I would have to chase them off. Sometimes that involved throwing food at them."

Blake snorted and said, "That sounds effective."

Liliana gave a smug smile in return.

"Potatoes?" Preston asked, leaning on the table. Blake and Liliana startled and looked at the man.

"Yes, they're very important," Liliana replied.

"They may be making weapons with them," Blake added seriously, though he ruined it by laughing.

Preston gave them an unimpressed look, but left them alone.

"So, next room?" Liliana suggested.

"I remember seeing a room full of blankets once," Blake replied.

"Really? Blankets?" And so the two got off topic again.

* * *

Scarlet, Zyra and the others sat on the grass in the park debating how best to roger people's minds from being controlled. So far, they hadn't made much progress. They were taking a break when Scarlet mused, "I wonder where Lucinda and Sky went. I still have to pay them."

"Here," Lucinda said, suddenly appearing by the group. "I'll take both shares." Gina gasped, Wyvrn and Eclipse both got into fighting poses while Nevin, Starlight and Yunyi all startled. Zyra didn't react at all and seemed as if she'd actually noticed the woman approach. Which, maybe she had, Scarlet didn't know her very well.

Scarlet doubted the mercenary would share with the younger assassin, but she also didn't want to get into a fight with the woman. She had promised Preston she'd be careful after all.

"Here," Scarlet said, handing over the money. Lucinda nodded in thanks and disappeared as quickly as she had arrived. Eclipse and Wyvrn both relaxed a bit and sat back down.

"Weird woman," Zyra commented.

Nevin nodded in agreement. "Very strange."

"She scares me," Yunyi murmured.

"She's not as much of a problem as Altair," Wyvrn said.

"True," Scalret agreed. "We need to watch out for her."

"Altair?" Starlight repeated.

"Yeah, that's her name," Scarlet replied. Starlight paled and Scarlet looks at her curiously. "Are you okay?"

"Altair is my sister."


	33. Millennium

**Author's Note:  
**

**Not sure how I feel about this chapter, but I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Chapter 29: Millennium

* * *

"Altair is your sister?" Gina exclaimed.

"Yes," Starlight replied sadly.

"You never mentioned your sister was working for the organization that tried to kill you," Eclipse said dryly.

"Well, they may have been after me because of her," Starlight admitted.

"Not much family loyalty?" Wyvrn asked idly.

"She, well, she has a disorder," Starlight explained.

"So she's like Wyvrn then," Zyra commented blithely.

Wyvrn's attack was caught by Scarlet who separated the two. "Please continue," she said to Starlight.

"Well, her name isn't really Altair. It's Millennium," Starlight continued.

"She changed her name?" Nevin said, head tilted to the side curiously.

"Was she afraid of being recognized?" Gina asked.

"No. She... has two personalities," Starlight explained.

"Two personalities?" Zyra repeated, clearly confused.

"You mean, multiple personality disorder?" Scarlet asked. "So Altair is one personality and Millennium is another one?"

"So she's crazy," Wyvrn concluded.

"She's not crazy!" Starlight yelled.

"Has she always been that way?" Scarlet wondered. "And why does she hate you so much?"

"No and I'm not really sure. She seems to think I'm perfect and hates me for that. We used to get along before, well, before Altair showed up," Starlight replied.

"How did that happen?" Gina asked.

"Well, that's a bit of a long story."

* * *

"Millennium is a Pokésoul and that's really how all this started," Starlight began.

"She's a Pokésoul? I've never seen her with a partner Pokémon," Wyvrn commented.

"Yes, well Millennium is a Pokésoul, Altair...isn't."

"But they're the same person, how is that possible?" Scarlet asked, a puzzled look on her face.

"She's still connected to her partner of course, it's just that she's either blocking the bond or unable to feel it for some reason. I was never able to tell if it was a choice or not."

"Well, where is her partner? Is is still alive?" Eclipse asked.

"I don't know. When she left home Victini went with her. As far as I know it's still alive, but I don't know for sure," Starlight replied.

"Victini, isn't that a very rare Pokémon?" Gina asked.

"Yes. And that's why everything happened. Victini was born on Liberty Island, far away from our home in Petalburg. But Victini knew how rare it was, that it was special. It realized that traveling by itself would be dangerous, that humans might try to capture it. So it didn't come to Millennium. It stayed on the island."

"It just stayed there?" Nevin asked.

"And waited for Millennium to go to it," Starlight confirmed.

"So I guess she went there," Eclipse prompted.

"She did. I don't know the specifics of what happened, I don't think even Millennium does really, but when she got to Liberty Island there was someone else there. He was hunting Victini and when he found out Millennium was Victini's partner, he tried to kill her. As far as I know, he thought that killing Millennium would free Vicitini to become his Pokémon, but that's just my speculation. Anyway, Victini realized Millennium was in trouble and came to help, but by the time it arrived Millennium was barely alive. Victini managed to drive the man off and keep Millennium alive, but Victini couldn't heal her completely. Somehow Victini got her to a medic and Millennium recovered. Physically anyway. Mentally, she is still suffering.

"After that, she started to hate me and blamed me for everything bad that happened to her and would call herself Altair. Sometimes she would be her normal self, but as time went on she went into her Altair personality more often. My parents weren't sure what to do and after Altair attacked me they sent her to a mental hospital out of town. A few months after she was sent there we got a letter saying she disappeared. I hadn't heard anything else until now."

There was a heavy silence in the wake of Starlight's story. "That's so sad," Gina said, her voice slightly shaky.

"It doesn't help us find Altair though," Wyvrn pointed out.

"That's not what matters!"

"Actually, I think it does help you find Altair," Starlight corrected.

"How?" Zyra wondered.

"Altair hates me and blames me for much of what happened in her life. If she finds out where I am she will come after me," Starlight replied.

"That sounds dangerous," Nevin said.

"Isn't that exactly what got Mira kidnapped?" Gina asked.

"No, it's not actually," Scarlet replied, a thoughtful look on her face. "Kirtus was working by himself and trying to get Mira captured. If we use this carefully, we can set a trap for Altair. We'll just have to rely on her hating Starlight enough to go into an obvious trap."

"I think she will," Starlight said. "She _really_ seems to hate me."

"Is there any way for us to talk to Millennium?" Nevin wondered.

Starlight shrugged. "I know that she's still in there somewhere, but I don't know how to bring her to the front of her consciousness. I can try using my powers, but it's possible Millennium won't know what we need so leaving her as Altair might be the best until we get the information we need." Starlight was clearly uncomfortable talking about her sister this way, but wasn't allowing much of this to show outwardly.

"Do you know why she joined Nature's Guardians?" Scarlet asked.

"No. Altair always liked chaos though, it's possible she's just there because they give her jobs to do," Starlight replied. "I want to go into the city. I can help capture her and then maybe I can help her."

"Well, we haven't finished much of the spell but this is more important," Scarlet decided, a pensive look in her face. "It's not ideal, but we can keep working on the spell in the city." Gina nodded.

"Do you have passes to get into the city?" Eclipse asked.

"Right here," Scarlet said, displaying the small rectangular objects. "I snagged them from Preston's desk."

"Should any of us stay out here?" Zyra asked, a slight bit of hopefulness infusing her tone.

"No," Scarlet replied. "We should all go. There's no way of knowing who they know is working with us and its safer for us all to be together." Scarlet put the passes back in her pocket and stood. The others followed, Zyra with an unhappy look on her face.

"Won't we have to come back out here at night anyway?" Nevin wondered idly.

"Yes, but if you all stay together it shouldn't be dangerous."

The group was making its way to the city gates when a form swooped down from above and landed in front of them, blocking the way. It was a Salamance and it glared at them with intelligent eyes. A man slid off its back and approached them. "Hello," he greeted lazily. "Going somewhere?"

"Alex," Scarlet spat.

"Who?" Gina asked, glancing between the two in confusion. Eclipse had stepped forward, one hand over his eyepatch.

"One of the major members of Nature's Guardians," Scarlet explained.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to come back with us. Along with those two psychic Pokésouls there," he gestured to Starlight and Yunyi. Yunyi squeaked and hid behind Starlight, who tried to shield the girl with her body.

"You don't actually want to do this," Scarlet insisted. "There are way more of us than you, and Yunyi's just a little girl. Are you really going to take her by force?"

There was a glimmer of something in the man's eyes as he glanced at Yunyi's small form hiding behind Starlight, but it vanished. "I have my orders. And I don't think you'll all be fighting at full strength trying to protect weaker members."

Eclipse's hand tightened over his eyepatch, but Starlight grabbed his arm and whispered, "Not yet!"

Zyra stepped forward, blocking Alex's path to the others. "Get out of here," she said to Scarlet. "I'll deal with him."

"You seem very confident in yourself," Alex noted.

"I am. And with good reason," Zyra said with a animalistic smile. Darkness began filling her aura, making her look almost demonic as it surrounded her in a rippling shadow. "I've been practicing."

Scarlet and the others had yet to move, reluctant to leave Zyra by herself. "Go," Nevin said. "I'll stay with Zyra. You have to get back and help the others!" Nevin's voice was more serious than the others had ever heard it, and his smile was gone. "We can beat him," Nevin assured.

Scarlet looked at the two, then nodded once and herded Starlight and Yunyi towards the city. Wyvrn followed, though his eyes stayed fixed on Alex. Eclipse looked at the fight, then glanced towards Starlight. After a moment of indecision, he ran after Starlight, his hand finally dropping from his eye.

"It won't be that easy," Alex said. He threw out two Poké Balls and an Arcanine and a Jolteon appeared in flashes of red light.

Zyra threw two Poké Balls of her own in response and her Crandidos and Teddiursa appeared. They made to head off Alex's Pokémon, but Clarissa had already knocked the Jolteon away with her tail and Zoroark had hit the Arcanine with a bolt of darkness. The two enemy Pokémon took a moment to reorient themselves and that gave Zyra's Pokémon time to put themselves between them and Scarlet's group. Zyra and Nevin remained on the other side of Alex, boxing the man in.

Alex sighed. "You're not going to let me go after them, are you?" He asked, annoyance clear in his tone.

"Nope," Zyra said with a feral grin.

"I guess we have to fight then," Alex said.

"Looks like it."

* * *

"Here are the names," Pecha said, handing over her notebook full of names. There were about fifteen in all.

"Let's look them up," Nami said. Christina hovered beside as Nami looked up the names on the computer. Pecha had started watching the screen, then got a glazed look in her eyes and wandered over to sit with Zap.

Christina and Nami searched for a while and came up with four names and addresses of doctors who were still practicing and were in the medical field.

"Let's save this one for last," Pecha said. "He's in Lumiose."

"There's one here in Goldenrod, we should try him first," Nami suggested.

"Let's go then," Christina said.

It was a boring experience for Christina, though Pecha seemed to be having a lot of fun. Nami looked mostly baffled at all the large and frankly incomprehensible words flying around, but Pecha seemed to actually understand most of it. Or was just really good at faking it.

Christina heard everything that was said, but at the end of the conversation with the first scientist Christina was not at all sure what, if anything, had been accomplished. "So, what just happened?" Christina asked once they'd left.

"He's agreed to help," Pecha said, happiness in her tone. "That by itself if probably enough to get Lucinda's help, but I'd like to speak to the others as well. Curing the Draining Sickness is a worthy cause and the more people working on it the better."

"Let's head to Jubilife then," Nami suggested. "The next two live there."

What followed were two more long conversations Christina and Nami did not take part of, then they were walking towards the transporter in Jubilife. According to Pecha, one of the scientists had agreed to help, but the other had retired. She had, however, agreed to speak with her colleagues and extend Pecha's offer to them.

"The last one is in Lumiose," Pecha said, looking extremely chipper after all the science talk.

"Did you actually understand all of that?" Christina wondered.

"Most of it," Pecha replied. "I watched a lot of documentaries growing up and any time I was able to get my hands on a book about biology I picked it up. I don't know a whole lot about medicine, but I know enough of the terms to have a conversation about it."

Christina nodded, but wondered how the girl could spend her free time reading about such boring topics. She must've been _really_ bored.

The last scientist on the list was a man named Rob Steel. The three girls went to his lab and knocked on the door. He appeared, a middle aged man with brown hair looking down at them with dark eyes.

"Hello there," Pecha greeted. "My name is Pecha Woods."

"Fred Woods' daughter?" he said, focusing on her with, what Christina found to be, a disturbing level of interest.

"That's me," Pecha replied. "I was hoping I could get your help with something."

"Of course, come in," he gestured for them to walk inside, and they did so. "Are you going to introduce your friends?"

"I'm sorry," Nami apologized. "I am Nami Salem."

"Christina," Christina offered, deciding to leave off her last name.

"Nami Salem and Christina," Rob repeated. He smiled at them, but the way he said Nami's last name made her skin crawl. "I have something I need to put away in my lab. Please wait here." He disappeared and Christina went immediately to his unattended computer.

"What are you doing?" Nami asked.

"I want to look at his files," Christina replied.

"You can do that?" Pecha sounded impressed. "I couldn't even turn my computer on."

"Kai showed me some tricks," Christina replied.

"Why are you hacking in?" Nami asked. "Isn't that illegal?"

"Slightly. Maybe. Yes," Christina said. "But wasn't he creeping you out?"

"Actually, yeah," Pecha agreed. "I thought it was just my imagination."

"Yes," Nami said hesitantly. "But he hasn't actually done anything."

"That we know of," Christina argued as she continued to try to bypass the password lock.

"I think Kai may be a bad influence on you," Nami said. Christina shrugged and continued.

Pecha had begun looking at the desk and opened one of the drawers. She picked up a sticky note and showed it to Christina. "He kept the password on a sticky note," Christina said in disbelief. She typed it in and it unlocked. "That's like asking people to break in."

"He probably assumes the people in his lab wouldn't look at his stuff," Nami said. Christina ignored her and continued looking through the laptop.

"What are you doing at my computer?" Rob asked. Christina jumped guiltily away. Unfortunately she hadn't had time to find anything interesting yet.

"We needed to look something up," Pecha said,

"And you couldn't wait for me to come back?" he was walking as he spoke and was now standing between them and the door.

The three girls looked to each other and made the unspoken decision to stop beating around the bush. "What's wrong with you?" Pecha asked.

"Vague question," Rob replied.

"Not really."

"You seemed to be interested in Pecha and Nami," Christina said. "Why?"

"Less vague," Rob said. "I suppose I can tell you since you're all trapped in here. I have called my employers and they will be here soon."

"Who is your employer?" Nami asked.

"Nature's Guardians of course."

"Why are you helping them?" Christina demanded.

"The cities need to be torn down. Nature's Guardians are going to ensure that happens," Rob replied with a shrug.

"But you work here," Pecha said.

"So I can be useful to them," Rob said.

All of a sudden, the door behind Rob fell inward with a loud crack and he was crushed under the weight of an angry Luxray.

"Thanks Zap," Pecha said. Rob twitched on the floor a couple times before falling unconscious. "Let's get out of here before his backup arrives."

"Agreed," Christina replied. She swiped the laptop, and the password note, then followed Pecha and Nami out the door. Rob was slung over Zap's back and the group quickly escaped from the lab.

A few minutes after the girls had vacated the area, Talon showed up to find the lab empty. He looked at the destroyed doorway and sighed. Then he left.

* * *

The door opened and a man walked inside. "Razan," Erika greeted, a smile suddenly gracing her face. It was the first expression she'd made other than frowning or looking disinterested.

"Erika," he replied with a nod. "Have they said anything of interest?"

"They have not."

Razan nodded in understanding. "Thank you for watching them. You may go. Send Xero down, he can take over."

"Of course Razan," Erika said, bowing and leaving the room with her Braviary.

Razan then turned to the prisoners. "I am Razan. Welcome to Nature's Guardians." Mira stared at him in terror and shrunk backwards. She expected Wolf to say something, but he was silent. She turned to him and saw he was pale and his expression confused.

"Wolf?" She said quietly. He didn't respond. "Are you alright?" Still nothing.

"He seems to be having some difficulties," Razan pointed out mildly. If Mira weren't able to read people, she might have thought him normal, but she could feel his aura. He wasn't a happy person. He was dripping in hate, anger, and sadness. It was so intense it was almost a physical force. Much stronger than Erika's anger at the cities.

"Why are you so angry?" Mira wondered quietly.

"Why am I angry?" He asked. "Why? The city ruined me. That's why I'm angry."

"What did it do to you?" She asked nervously. She really didn't want to talk to him, but she figured Wolf would have asked, if he weren't suffering from...whatever he was suffering from.

"It killed my parents."

"Your parents?" Wolf said, his voice slightly shaky, but firm nonetheless. Mira huffed a sigh of relief and sat back, letting Wolf do the talking.

"You want to hear my story? I'd be glad to tell you. I was born in the city, in the lower level. We were treated like dirt down there and my mother caught a horrible disease. It was curable, but the cost of the medicine was extremely high. If we got her the medicine she needed, we wouldn't be able to afford to keep our house or buy food. We couldn't rely on science, so we turned to the other greatest force."

"Magic," Wolf guessed.

"Yes. My father's magical studies were discovered before he could help my mother and he was arrested. My mother died soon after and I couldn't afford to keep our home by myself. I was sent to an orphanage where I was hated for what my father did. Then I was hated for being a Pokésoul. Eventually I decided enough was enough and I left the city. The cities are built on hate. Living in them when you're not one of the privileged is unbearable. And since I've been living out here I've seen what the selfishness and cruelty of its citizens do to people out here. The cities make everyone suffer so that its favored citizens can live in luxury."

Mira had no way of knowing if what he said was true, but she knew that Razan believed it completely. If it was true than the people in the lower level had a much worse life than Mira had ever realized.

"That's a sad story but it doesn't give you the right to hurt people," Wolf said. "The government has been taking steps to help the people in the lower level."

"But not the people in the Outerlands," Razan pointed out. "The cities don't pay attention to anyone out here. You don't care, so here I am. This is a problem of your own making."

"You made this problem," Wolf refuted. "If it weren't for you this wouldn't exist." He gestured around at the building.

Razan scoffed. "If you truly believe that then you're a fool. Nature's Guardians has been around longer than I've been alive. It's recent resurgence is thanks to me I'll admit, but the groundwork was already here."

"Really?" Mira said. "I've never heard of it before."

"It was several years ago that the organization last did anything major," Razan replied.

"Why are you telling us all this?" Wolf asked.

"To spread my message. I don't believe either of you will join me, though if you want to I happily accept your help."

"No!" Wolf and Mira both hastily rejected. He held up a hand in a quelling gesture.

"Regardless, you've heard my story now. No matter what happens now, that truth will come to light. Even if I lose the fight I know is coming, I've still won. People will hear the problems in the world and you will be forced to deal with the outcome. Your time of living in your happy bubble are over."

Mira felt a sudden sense of unease. He was fully prepared to be a martyr. He didn't even care if Preston found them, because he as right. The news would play the footage and be talking about the man who blew up the Lumiose reactor for long after he was defeated. Whether this would have the reaction he clearly expected was something Mira had no way of knowing.

"Are you expecting to lose?" Wolf asked.

Razan was saved from answering by the door opening and Xero entering. "Xero, keep an eye on them." Razan left, a faint sense of smug satisfaction following in his wake. Xero took a seat in the chair Erika had used and leaned back, closing his eyes.

"Are you going to take a nap?" Wolf asked.

"If you try anything I'll know," Xero replied lazily.

Wolf rolled his eyes and leaned back against the wall. He still seemed a bit paler than normal and Mira recalled his peculiar reaction to Razan. "What was wrong before?" She asked, keeping her voice low though she was sure Xero could hear anyway.

"Razan. He seems familiar. Like I've met him before..." Wolf replied, a deeply thoughtful look falling over his face. He seemed to be conferring with Silvia, so Mira leaned back herself and reached out to Kira. The Kirlia had been observing through Mira's senses but hadn't commented.

_What do you think?_ Mira asked.

_He's creepy_, Kira replied._ He really doesn't seem to care what happens to him. That makes him especially dangerous. _

_I was afraid you'd say that_, Mira sighed. She just wanted to go home and dance. Hopefully at the end of all this there would still be a home for her to dance in.

* * *

**Note: **

**Kiwi is not a psychiatrist and has very little knowledge of mental disorders. This is my fictional representation of one and is not intended to be taken as an accurate portrayal. **


	34. Virus Detected

Chapter 30: Virus Detected

* * *

Pecha, Christina and Nami walked into the Guardian Force building and headed towards the elevator. On previous trips any of them had made to the Pokésoul division, they had been ignored. This time they weren't. Due in no small part to the unconscious man lying on Zap's back.

"Excuse me!" One of the people at the front desk exclaimed as she ran towards them to block the way to the elevator.

"Yeah?" Pecha asked causally.

"Where are you taking that man?" The lady asked looking pointedly at the unconscious man draped across Zap's back.

"Upstairs," Pecha replied.

"Why?"

"We're bringing him to Preston," Christina explained.

"Preston Rolfe?" The woman was clearly suspicious.

"I've been in and out of here several times and no one stopped me," Pecha said.

"We never brought in an unconscious man before though," Nami pointed out.

"Wait here, I'm going to ask Preston if he's actually expecting you," the woman said, not taking her eyes off of them for a second.

"You know, now that I think about it it's surprising that none of us have been stopped before," Christina said. "River and Volke just walked right up too."

"Well, it is the Guardian Force headquarters," Pecha said. "With all the Guardian Force officers around if you tried to do anything you'd be caught immediately."

The elevator opened and Preston stepped out. "What's so important?" he asked the woman at the front desk. Apparently she'd sent him an alert.

"Hi Preston," Christina greeted.

"Christina," Preston said with a nod. His gaze fell on Dr. Steel. "Why do you all have an unconscious man?"

"He's part of Nature's Guardians!" Pecha announced.

"He is? I've never seen him before," Preston mused.

"He said he was," Nami said.

"We got his computer too," Pecha added, pointing at the laptop Christina was carrying.

"Well, bring that to Kai," Preston ordered. "I'll bring this man down to the holding cells."

"Right," Christina said. Preston released his Venasaur and transferred the man from Zap's back to the grass-type's. Zap sighed with relief and shook herself out. Preston walked away followed by his Venasaur while Pecha, Christina, and Nami headed for the elevator. Christina sent the woman at the desk a told-ya-so look before continuing.

Nami and Christina walked into the elevator, but Pecha didn't follow. Nami turned to her, "Pecha?" she asked.

"I need to go out and talk to Lucinda," Pecha said. "I'll came back right after."

"Wait Pecha -" Nami started, but the door closed.

"Is she going to be okay?" Christina asked.

"Probably," Nami replied, though her voice was anything but convinced. The elevator door opened again and the two girls walked out.

Christina delivered the laptop to Kai once they reached the Pokésoul office. "Here," she said. Kai, Christopher and River all turned to look at her.

"Whose is this?" Kai asked.

"Some guy working for Nature's Guardians," Christina replied. "Here's the password." She handed over the sticky note.

"His name is Rob Steel," Nami supplied.

"Thanks," Kai said. "I'll look through it."

"I can do that," River protested.

"I can too!" Christopher added.

"You guys should keep looking for Altair," Kai said.

"We've _been_ looking. We haven't found anything," River pointed out with irritation. "_You_ could keep looking and I can work on the new laptop."

"Or I could handle the laptop," Christopher added. "I'm good at finding things."

"We know you are," Kai said, somewhat patronizingly. Christopher gave her a glare. "I'm a member of the Guardian Force, you two are not, so it's my laptop now." Kai grabbed the laptop and held it away from the others.

"Or you could all work together," Christina pointed out. "If any of the cameras spot Altair you'll get an alert anyway."

Three heads turned to her in sync. "Oh, I guess that could work," Kai said.

"Fine," Christopher sighed.

"Alright," River relented.

Kai sat down, Christopher on one side River on the other, and they began picking apart the data in the laptop. Christina hovered behind them, observing and reading over their shoulders.

* * *

While Kai, River and Christopher went through the computer Preston returned. He hadn't gotten much from Rob, though that wasn't a lack of interrogation skills on Preston's part, it was simply that Rob really didn't know that much about Nature's Guardians.

Kai gasped suddenly, excitement filling her. "Kai?" Preston asked.

"This computer, it's been used by Virus!" She exclaimed.

"Dr. Steel is Virus?" Nami said. "He didn't seem overly smart. He got taken out by a Luxray through a door."

"He's not necessarily Virus, but Virus did use this computer. Wait. Did you just say a Luxray took him down with a door?" Nami shrugged. "Anyway, with this I can find all the Nature's Guardians agents in the city. All the ones Virus helped anyway," Kai said excitedly.

"Isn't Altair the only one?" Christina asked.

"She's the most active one, but their agents have been forcing Pokésouls to leave the city for years. Altair only arrived recently," Preston replied. "That said, Altair is the most important right now. But finding the other agents will be imperative later."

Kai hadn't stopped typing during the exchange and she stopped suddenly. "As far as I can tell only two people have access to this computer. Rob Steel and someone named Shaw Steel."

"Related to Rob Steel?" Christina asked.

Kai pulled up his profile. "Yep. Son of Rob Steel and Maggie Steel. Looks like she died several years ago. Executed for magic use."

"I don't believe Rob Steel is capable of being Virus," Preston said. "He didn't seem particularly brilliant."

"Well, if Rob isn't then that means Shaw must be. And he's eleven."

"And he's the biggest cyber threat in the city?" River said, looking impressed. "He must be a genius."

"Well, you started being an information broker when you were about fourteen," Kai pointed out.

"Yeah, I wasn't _eleven_," River agreed.

"We need to take him in," Preston said. "With him out of the way the cameras can finally be trusted again. He is only a kid though, we're not going to use undue force."

"I'm going," Kai said. "I want to meet this kid."

"You're not going by yourself," Preston replied.

"I'll go," Nami offered.

"Then I'm going too," Blake said. "We've done as much of this as we can anyway." He gestured to the map sitting on the table between he and Liliana. It was covered in notes and shapes which Kai couldn't see very well from across the room.

"Works for me," Kai replied.

"Can I come too?" Liliana asked. "I'm bored of sitting here."

"Sure," Kai said.

"Be careful," Preston added. "Altair is still out there. As long as you stick together and remain on the upper level you should be fine, but don't take any chances."

"Alright! Move out!" Kai said making a dramatic gesture. The others followed with much less enthusiasm. "Keep an eye on the cameras while I'm gone and see if you can get anything else from the laptop," Kai said over her shoulder to River and Christopher.

"No problem," River assured.

* * *

Kai opened the door and led the way into the house, Blake following more cautiously. "Hello?" Kai called out. "Viiiirus?"

"Maybe we shouldn't announce ourselves," Blake said, flinching slightly at her yell.

"He's a little kid," Kai scoffed.

"He may not be alone," Nami pointed out.

"If he attacks I'll be ready for him," Liliana said.

"Shaw!" Kai called out. "Let's split up and look for him," she suggested when there was still no response.

"Alright…" Nami agreed warily. They split up and went to different rooms. Kai headed up the stairs followed by Liliana who went left when Kai walked to the right at the top of the stairs.

Kai opened a door to find an empty bathroom, then tried the next to find a closet filled to the brim with linens. The third door she opened was to a bedroom. She walked inside this room and found it empty as well. She was about to leave when she had a sudden feeling. She walked over to the bed and looked underneath. Nothing but dust. Then her eyes fell on the closet. She opened the door, and was tackled by a boy. In surprise more than any actual force, Kai fell and the boy ran out of the room.

"I found him!" Kai yelled. "He's running!" Kai got back to her feet and ran out of the room in time to see Liliana block the boy and get him in a headlock.

"I got him!" Liliana said, eyes fierce. Nami and Blake came running up the stairs.

"That's him?" Nami asked. The boy was clearly very young, shorter than even Liliana and glared at Kai with dark brown eyes. His brown hair was in disarray from his cramped hiding place.

"What do you want?" The boy demanded.

"Are you Shaw Steel?" Kai asked.

"I don't have to answer that," he said.

"No," Kai said. "You don't." She looked at her phone and pulled up his profile. She held it up by his face and looked at the others. "What do you think? A match?"

"It sure looks like him," Blake replied.

"It's him," Nami agreed.

"Alright Shaw. You're coming with us. Liliana, you mind making sure he doesn't run off?" Kai asked.

"Not a problem," Liliana said, releasing him from the headlock but keeping a firm grasp on his upper arm.

"Let's head back then."

"This is kidnapping," Shaw said belligerently.

"Not when we have evidence you committed a crime," Kai replied happily.

"So why are you helping Nature's Guardians?" Liliana asked as she herded the struggling boy down the street.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he refuted.

"Come on," Kai said. "You must be smart enough to know that things will go much better for you if you cooperate."

Shaw gave her a hard look, which was odd for such a youthful face, then finally responded. "They paid me. I don't have any particular alliance with them."

"You don't?" Nami said doubtfully. "But your father is working with them."

"I don't care what he does," Shaw spat.

"So you're not working together then," Kai guessed.

"No!" he agreed.

"But if that's the case, why were you using his computer?" Kai wondered.

"So if someone tracked me down they'd grab him instead. Obviously," he replied.

"Well, that backfired. I found you through his computer," Kai said.

"I wasn't expecting anyone to notice that," Shaw admitted. "I may have miscalculated."

"I'm getting the feeling that's not common for you," Blake said.

"It isn't," Shaw said proudly.

"You're really annoying," Liliana commented. "And full of yourself."

"You're a thug," Shaw fired back. He grunted as Liliana increased the pressure on his arm.

"So how did you become Virus?" Kai asked. "Seems like an odd profession for a little kid."

"You're not _that_ much older than me," Shaw said. "And I can do whatever I want."

"Well… the law begs to differ," Kai replied. Not that she ever paid much attention to the law when it got in the way of what she wanted to do, but he didn't need to know that.

"I'm a kid," Shaw said. "It was a childish mistake."

"I think you gave up the 'childish mistake' card when you interfered with a Guardian Force investigation," Blake said dryly.

Shaw shrugged, seemingly unconcerned.

* * *

Zyra left her Crandidos and Teddiursa to battle Alex's two Pokémon and focused on the man himself. He was a Salamance Pokésoul; that could be tricky. She wasn't sure what power he drew from his Pokémon as it didn't have an obvious manifestation like water or fire. Salamance was a dragon type. _Pecha would probably know_, Zyra grumbled. She should have asked.

_That girl talks way too much, _Darkfire replied. _It's good you didn't ask. _

Zyra huffed in amusement, and said, _True, but it would've been useful to know. _

_She may have told you and you simply weren't listening, _Darkfire added.

_Which means you weren't either, _Zyra pointed out.

_I sleep through all of her explanations. I never intended to hide that. _Zyra giggled slightly at that which made Alex narrow his eyes.

"Why are you laughing?" he demanded. His aura was clearly changing and Zyra knew he was pulling something from him Pokémon.

"Nothing to do with you," Zyra replied flippantly. "Ready Nevin?" She turned to her friend.

"Ready," he said, a faint smile on his face. Zyra lunged forward, darkness coating her fist and increasing the strength of her attack. Alex blocked it with his arm. Her attack didn't even faze him.

_Looks like he's getting strength from his Salamance, _Zyra mused. Darkfire leapt forwards, dodging past Alex and aiming a Dark Pulse at the Salamance. The Salamance didn't have time to dodge and was hit by the blast and it growled in anger.

The Salamance retaliated with a mighty Dragon Claw, but it moved too slowly to hit the agile Darkfire. She darted around him and hit him from behind. Alex turned around to help his Salamance which gave Zyra an opening. She aimed a kick at his knees hoping to knock him over. Her blow connected and his legs buckled underneath him, sending him to the ground. Unfortunately he recovered quickly, rolling back up to his feet and launching a gust of wind at Zyra. _Right, it's Dragon _and _Flying, _Zyra remembered.

She was pushed back and ended up next to Darkfire. At this point, Typhlosion made its move. It launched a stream of flame at the Salamance's back. This, however, only displayed how much weaker than the other two Nevin's Pokémon was. The Salamance didn't even twitch. Seeing that his attack was ineffectual, Nevin moved around to try and support Zyra.

Zyra and Darkfire were still focused on trying to take down the Salamance. If they managed to knock out the Salamance, then Alex would no longer be able to use its abilities. Their partner's abilities were only available when the other was awake and capable of using them themselves. Zyra was preparing another attack when she heard Nevin scream her name. She turned in time to see him fall to the ground next to her.

* * *

Zyra was focused on the Salamance and not paying attention to Alex, who as a Pokésoul was just as dangerous as his partner. An aura of power was surrounding him and he made a move towards Zyra. Nevin wasn't about to let him hit her.

"Zyra!" Nevin yelled as he ran to intercept Alex. He pulled Typhlosion's fire to himself, but it wasn't enough to stop the attack and Nevin was hit by a powerful blow to the chest. His breath was forced out in a huge gasp and he fell to the ground, his vision blurring around the edges.

_Nevin!_ Typhlosion called, a mental call echoed out loud by Zyra. Zyra was instantly crouching by his side, her dark aura stronger than ever.

"Your friend is hurt, you may as well give up now," Alex said.

"Are you kidding? Now it's personal," Zyra growled. Alex began his attack again, this time aiming his attacks at Nevin. It was instantly apparent that this put Zyra at a disadvantage as she was too busy trying to defend Nevin to fight back. Nevin tried to get himself to move away, but he was still reeling from the attack and he was having trouble catching his breath, much less moving. Typhlosion was trying to help Zyra protect him, but Nevin and Typhlosion just weren't fighters.

"Leave him alone!" Zyra yelled, darkness coating her fist as she lunged at Alex. Alex avoided the attack, but it did push him away from Nevin. The two continued exchanging blows, aided by their partners, neither showing any sign of slowing down.

Nevin finally had managed to get himself up to a seated position, but whatever attack Alex had used had really drained him. It was still a bit of a struggle to get enough air.

"Zyra! What's happening?" A new voice suddenly exclaimed. Nevin turned to see Pecha and Zap cautiously approaching the fight.

"Pecha, get Nevin out of here!" Zyra yelled. Pecha's head turned to him and she ran over, avoiding the Salamance's tail as she dodged around the Pokémon.

She landed on her knees next to him and put a hand supportively on his shoulder. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Nevin nodded a bit dazedly and stood with her help. She released him and his knees instantly buckled. Luckily, Zap was standing behind him and he managed to stay up with her support. Typhlosion took Zap's place and Nevin wrapped an arm around his partner's back.

"Let's get out of here," Pecha said. A stray blast of fire from Alex's Arcanine flew at them and Pecha jumped back, embers catching her sleeve. She winced, but didn't slow down. Luckily, the Pokémon wasn't actually interested in them as it was still distracted by Zyra's Crandidos.

"Did Scarlet get into the city?" Nevin wheezed out. He was still having a bit of trouble breathing.

"Scarlet? I don't know," Pecha replied. "She wasn't at the headquarters when I left." The two ran, or in Nevin's case, hobbled, to the gate when a dark shadow fell over them. Nevin felt the air around Pecha change as she grabbed him and leapt out of the way of the falling Salamance. Nevin and Typhlosion landed tangled around each other, but Pecha was instantly on her feet again.

_She using Agility_, Typhlosion explained helpfully.

_Ah_, Nevin said. _That's why she's so fast. _

They were still an unfortunately long distance away from the gate and Nevin knew they wouldn't be able to outrun the Salamance to get there. Well, Pecha probably could, but Nevin certainly couldn't.

Zap attacked the Salamance, biting its tail in a crushing Thunder Fang. Pecha launched sparks of her own, but the Salamance shook it off, flinging Zap away with an annoyed flick of its tail. _Help them! _Nevin said. Typhlosion was already running. He sent a searing wave of flame at the dragon, but again it mostly ignored the attack. Pecha was clearly already tiring and Zap was trying to reorient herself from being thrown. Nevin thought briefly about sending out his Pidgey, but Pidgey was weaker than Typhlosion and Typhlosion didn't seem to be having any effect.

The Salamance advanced on Pecha and she tried to dart out of the way, but clearly the usage of Agility had finally taken its toll and she stumbled. The Salamance pinned her with one of its large feet as she fell and loomed over her. It simply sat there for a moment and Nevin got the feeling it was actually reluctant to do anything else. Before he could give it much more thought a flash of darkness shot out, slamming into the Salamance's side. This attack seemed to actually hurt the Pokémon and it stumbled backwards, freeing Pecha.

_Zyra! _Nevin though excitedly, turning to see his friend. But it wasn't Zyra. Lucinda stood behind a Zorua her face impassive. A Ditto sat on her shoulder and jumped forward when Lucinda pointed towards the Salamance. Midair, the Ditto shifted and grew, landing on the four paws of a Luxray. Zap stared at the Ditto in clear suspicion, but bypassed it in order to get to Pecha.

"Lucinda," Pecha said, her voice sounding exhausted.

"Have you found any scientists yet?" Lucinda asked, her voice sounding as if they were having a relaxed conversation on the street rather than fighting with a hostile dragon Pokémon.

"Yes," Pecha said. With Zap's help she got to her feet and walked to a safe distance from the Salamance. Lucinda's Pokémon were clearly at a level far beyond Zap and Typhlosion.

Lucinda's Ditto used the same Thunder Fang attack Zap had, but this time the Salamance recoiled in pain. This was immediately followed by another wave of darkness from Lucinda's Zorua. The Salamance stood on its hind feet and launched itself into the sky. It circled them once, then flew back to where Zyra and Alex were probably still fighting.

"Zyra," Nevin said with concern.

"We have to get you into the city," Pecha replied. "You need a healer."

"You found scientists?" Lucinda prompted as she returned her Zorua and her Ditto shrunk down to its normal pink form. The blob-like creature climbed up her leg and settled on her shoulder again.

"I have two who agreed to help," Pecha replied, her eyes drifting away from Nevin to focus on the mercenary. "Another is talking with her colleagues to find others who would be willing to help. I can introduce you if you'd like." Pecha's voice was slower than normal with fatigue and the pauses between some of the words were oddly long. She was still doing better than Nevin who was having a bit of trouble getting out single words.

"No need," Lucinda said. "If you're lying I'll know soon enough. And I believe you know the consequences of that."

Pecha looked at the wide swatches of grass that had been blackened and burned by the Zorua's attacks and nodded. "I can imagine," she said.

"Good. I will help you fight Nature's Guardians then." Nevin really wasn't at all sure what was happening, but it seemed that Pecha had some sort of deal with the mercenary. If that was so, then she would have to help Zyra.

"Help Zyra," Nevin insisted.

"We have to get you to a clinic," Pecha countered.

"_Zyra_," Nevin insisted. It was much harder to argue when one couldn't speak properly. Pecha looked conflicted and so Nevin looked imploringly at Lucinda. She stared passively back at him.

"My deal is with Pecha. I have no business with Zyra," she said.

"We really need to get you help Nevin," Pecha said with a note of finality. "Come on." She grabbed his arm, but Nevin wouldn't leave. He didn't know if Zyra was okay. Pecha pulled on his arm, but he didn't move. When she tugged more insistently he sat down. "Nevin," Pecha said, irritation coloring her tone. "I'm worried about Zyra too, but there's nothing either of us can do!"

Nevin shook his head violently. He was starting to feel dizzy and the panic in him was growing. _Calm down, _Typhlosion ordered.

_But we don't know what happened to Zyra! _Nevin exclaimed. His vision was darkening and the last thing he saw before the darkness swallowed him completely was Pecha's worried face saying his name.

* * *

"Nevin?" Pecha asked, concerned. He fell backwards unconscious, caught by his Typhlosion. "I have to get him back into the city," Pecha said. Zap walked over and Nevin was situated across the Luxray's back by Pecha and Typhlosion.

_I'm not a wagon, _Zap muttered irritably. _Why do you keep putting people on me?_

_But you're so good at carrying things, _Pecha joked with a levity she didn't feel. "Can you go and help Zyra?" Pecha said, turning to Lucinda.

"No," Lucinda replied.

"Why not?"

"My deal is with you. If something happens to you I lose my chance at curing my family. These people are clearly violent, I'm not leaving you to run off alone when you're injured."

"I'll be fine," Pecha snapped, though in truth she was exhausted and she knew Zap was as well.

"You didn't do very well against the Salamance," Lucinda pointed out. Pecha glared, but bit back her retort. They were just wasting time.

"You're not changing your mind are you?" Pecha asked. At Lucinda's unimpressed look Pecha sighed. "Fine, I don't know how badly Nevin's hurt and we don't have time to waste here." Pecha walked towards the gate, hoping that Zyra would be alright.

* * *

The injured boy had run off with the newcomer and Mars flew after them. Alex faced the enraged girl with a sigh. He really hadn't meant to hurt the boy that much, he hadn't expected him to get in the way. The girl, Zyra, she wouldn't have been hurt that much from it, not with the amount of power she was drawing from her Umbreon.

He pushed his doubts away, there was no time to be distracted. He blocked a blow from Zyra with an arm strengthened by Mars. He'd decided to follow Razan, and if these people opposed him, Alex supposed he would have to fight them.

_They won't be getting out this way_, Mars said confidently. Alex acknowledged this, but was too distracted by Zyra to respond at length.

Zyra launched waves after waves of dark energy, aided by her Umbreon lunging in and attempting to attack his unprotected back. He'd send out another Pokémon, but Zyra would simply send one of hers out as well. No, this was between him and her.

He jumped out of the way of one of her attacks, hoping it would catch her Umbreon instead. It didn't work, the two dodged around each other expertly. They both turned to her with angry eyes and Alex felt a small thread of fear fill him.

This time the girl and her Umbreon attacked from the same direction and Alex used Mars's powers to block. He was managing to defend himself, but wasn't able to launch any attacks when Mars's power suddenly weakened. Alex staggered and fell at the next of Zyra's attacks. He fell to a crouch and managed to jump backwards to get out of the way of the Umbreon's fangs.

_Mars_? He asked.

_They beat me_, the Salamance said apologetically.

"Tyrantrum!" Alex yelled as he sent out the Pokémon. The dragon appeared, blocking Zyra's path to him. Alex got back to his feet while Zyra was occupied with his new Pokémon. His Tyrantrum was well-trained, but the force of Zyra's rage was overcoming it. It distracted for as long as Alex needed though. Mars swooped down and Alex grabbed onto its leg. He returned all of his Pokémon and waved at Zyra. "Nice fighting with you!" He called out.

"Come back here!" Zyra yelled. She jumped at him, but Mars was already too high above the ground for her to reach. Alex climbed up Mars's leg and settled onto his Salamance's back. Her shouts faded into the rush of wind as Mars set off.

He let out a long sigh and fell forward in exhaustion. _That was rough_, he murmured.

_Yeah. The other two got the Red Neck to help them_, Mars replied.

_Really? Maybe we should wait before going back to headquarters, _Alex suggested._ Take a vacation. _

_That sounds like a good idea. I could use some rest. _

_Maybe the beach..._

_I could use some sun_, Mars said agreeably. Alex smiled as the two flew off. It was better this way anyway, the things they'd been doing in Nature's Guardians had never sat well with him anyway. They'd take a vacation and come back once everything had calmed down a bit. He wondered what exactly he'd be coming back to. Whatever it was, he was almost certain it wouldn't be anything like what he'd left.


	35. Sibling Rivalry

**Author's Note:**

**If you want to make an OC for the new story, the form is on my profile! (The characters from this story will be in that story in smaller roles. You can submit a character if you made one for this story) ****Thanks for voting in my poll!**

* * *

Chapter 31: Sibling Rivalry

* * *

Scarlet, Starlight and their friends all managed to get inside the city, Alex successfully delayed by Zyra and Nevin.

"That was close," Gina said.

"No it wasn't," Wyvrn scoffed.

"I could have taken that guy by myself," Eclipse added.

"I'd have taken him down first," Wyvrn said.

"But I would have –" Eclipse's statement was interrupted by Scarlet.

"We're all very impressed," she said sarcastically. "But we have more important things to doing than talking about who would have beaten him up first. But, it totally would have been Clarissa." The Dragonite roared in the affirmative. Normally she was a very gentle soul, but that didn't mean the Dragon-type couldn't hold her own.

Gina had been nodding along, but at the last statement the girl facepalmed.

"Do you know where Millen – er Altair is?" Starlight asked.

"No, but Preston's been looking. Let's get to the Guardian Force headquarters," Scarlet said.

The group began walking that way, picking up a bit of attention due to the rather exotic nature of the Outerlander's clothing. They had soon arrived at the Guardian Force headquarters and were in the Pokésoul division.

Once there Starlight quickly summed up what she had explained to the others earlier. They then began discussing what the best plan to find Altair would be and Starlight found it exasperating. This wasn't helping. She wanted to see Millennium _now_. A quick glance confirmed that everyone was too busy arguing with each other to pay her much attention and the door was still open where Volke was leaning on it. Starlight slowly backed up, then slipped out the door. Volke gave her a look, but as Starlight had hoped, he didn't say anything. Free, she sprinted down the hallway and escaped down the stairs near the elevator. It was time to find Millennium.

* * *

"There's no fool proof plan we can make," Preston said. "We just have to make one with the smallest amount of risk.

"That would be not going after Altair at all," Wyvrn replied. "I don't imagine that's the plan."

Preston gave him a quelling look. "We need to catch her before she does anything else to the city."

"We need to check on Zyra and Nevin as well," Gina reminded. "That man looked tough."

"Um," Yunyi uttered.

"What?" Wyvrn asked.

"Where did Starlight go?" Everyone turned to the spot near the door where she'd been standing. It was empty.

"What! When did she leave?" Scarlet exclaimed.

"Several minutes ago," Volke replied.

"And you didn't say anything?" Preston demanded.

Volke shrugged. Eclipse charged for the door. "Wait!" Scarlet yelled. Eclipse didn't.

"Well, that's two out there on their own now," Kirtus said.

"What do we do?" Scarlet wondered.

Preston ran a hand through his hair. "No one else goes out by themselves," he ordered. "We need to go after Starlight, Eclipse will be looking for her."

"And Zyra," Gina added.

"Okay, we'll split into two groups. One will go after Starlight and one will go to Zyra."

"Who's on what team?" Scarlet asked.

"I'm going to see Zyra," Gina announced.

"Yunyi should stay here," Scarlet added.

"Alright, Wyvrn you're going with Gina. I'll go after Starlight. The rest of you can do what you want," Preston said. Wyvrn went to stand by Gina and they were joined by Christopher.

"I'll stay here with Yunyi," River said. "Volke, you should go with Preston." Volke gave Preston a contemptuous glance, but nodded. Kirtus and Christina both chose to stay with River and Yunyi, neither of them being particularly good at fighting.

"Let's head out then. Tell Kai what happened if she gets back before us," Preston said to the room.

"Alright," River acknowledged.

* * *

Starlight ran through the streets of the city, not entirely sure where she was going. She just knew that her sister was out there somewhere and Starlight had to save her. Her current goal was simply to get far enough away that the Guardian Force wouldn't come after her. She hadn't seen her sister in years, she wasn't waiting any longer.

She had been running for several minutes when she stopped to catch her breath. She looked up to see that she had happened to stop next to a sign pointing to the lower level. After she caught her breath, she followed it. A short walk later and she found herself at the elevator. She'd seen Preston use one at the Guardian Force, but this one didn't look like that one. She looked for the down button, having a bit of trouble until she realized it wasn't an actual button, it was a screen interface.

She touched the interface and it emitted a joyful series of sounds. The door opened, surprising her. She quickly entered the small room and the door slid closed. She had a small moment of panic at being confined in the small space, but the elevator began on its own and she was too disoriented from the feeling of movement to focus on how claustrophobic it was. The movement stopped and the door open.

She stumbled out and into the lower level. Her first impression was that it was way darker down there. Her second was that it was much dirtier. It actually felt slightly comforting in a strange way. The atmosphere down here was much more like what she was used to, though much darker of course. Most things showed clear signs of use and all the pieces of technology she could see were much less sophisticated than the ones above.

Starlight walked slowly down the street, looking around at the environment. She was on a street, but there didn't appear to be any cars. She wondered vaguely why that was, but figured it didn't really matter. It certainly was much quieter without them.

_Where do you think Altair is? _Starlight wondered.

_She'll probably find us, _Gardevoir replied, following serenely behind Starlight.

_How long do you think that will take? _

"Starlight," a very familiar voice hissed.

_I don't think it will take long at all, _Gardevoir said helpfully. Starlight turned around slowly, and there she was. Millennium. The look in her eyes though, that was all Altair.

"Millennium!" Starlight said.

"Altair," Altair corrected.

"If that's what you want to be called," Starlight replied agreeably.

"Why did you come here?" Altair asked. "You must know what I'm going to do to you."

Starlight laughed nervously. "Well, I don't exactly. I was hoping we could just talk."

"Talk? What would that help? That's all the doctors wanted me to do. It didn't help anything. I think it's time to settle this the best way I know how." Altair took out a Poké Ball and prepared to open it.

"Settle what?" Starlight demanded. "What is your problem with me?"

"Enough talk." Altair released the Poké Ball and her Greninja appeared. "Water Pulse." Greninja bowed to Starlight before launching a burst of water at her.

Starlight reflexively raised her hand, using Gardevoir's power to deflect the attack. "Where is Victini?" Starlight asked.

"Night Slash!" Altair ordered. Her Greninja came back around and lunged at Starlight with blades of darkness. Gardevoir sent it off course with a blast of fairy power. Greninja's dark blades scraped harmlessly across the ground.

"Fight back or give up," Altair commanded.

"I don't want to fight you," Starlight replied. "You're my sister."

"I'm not your sister!" Altair yelled throwing out another Poké Ball. This one released an Altaria.

_We need to fight back, _Gardevoir said.

_But I don't want to fight Millennium, _Starlight replied.

_She's not Millennium right now. _Altaria turned and breathed draconic fire at Starlight. _Fight back, _Gardevoir urged as she fended off another attack from Greninja. Starlight deflected the flames using her psychic powers, then let out a sad sigh.

_Alright, _she agreed. Starlight's Absol appeared before her. The keystone tied into her ribbon glowed, as did her Absol. Absol was encased in a flash of light and emerged as a Mega Absol.

Altair scoffed. "You think Mega Evolution will save you? You thought wrong." Altair's own keystone glowed and her Altaira was transformed into a Mega Altaria.

_I didn't know she had a keystone! _Starlight said.

_That will make things a bit harder, _Gardevoir said, her mental voice a bit strained as she was still fending off Altair's Greninja.

"I still have one advantage," Starlight said aloud.

"What is that?" Altair asked.

"I'm with my partner. Where is yours?"

"I don't need it!" Altair screamed. "I'm strong on my own!"

Well, that had gotten a reaction, but even more rage wasn't really the emotion Starlight was hoping would emerge. "Altaria!" Altair yelled. "Moonblast!"

"Dodge it!" Starlight yelled to her Absol. If that hit, Absol would be hurt very badly. The Mega Absol fluttered its wings to give a boost of speed, but it wasn't able to dodge the attack completely and was hit by an edge of the fairy blast.

Gardevoir was launching fairy blasts at Greninja, and it seemed to be working. The frog Pokémon was being pushed steadily backwards and bumped into the Mega Altaria.

Altair glared at it, then returned it. She sent out a Dusclops to take its place. The Dusclops led with a Shadow Punch which left Gardevoir reeling. "Absol, use Night Slash!" Starlight commanded, pointing at the Dusclops. She needed to get the Ghost type away from Gardevoir.

Gardevoir danced around Absol and launched a Dazzling Gleam attack at the Mega Altaria. It hit the Altaria, who flinched and screamed in rage. It whirled around and launched itself into Gardevoir. The two fell, both damaged by the Take Down.

Starlight was focused on her Absol and was caught by surprise when Altair grabbed hold of her shoulder. Starlight turned to her in surprise. In a panic, Starlight harnessed Gardevoir's telekinetic skills and pushed at Altair. Unfortunately, Altair refused to let go so the two ended up tumbling down and struggling on the ground. Starlight managed to get a hand to her Poké Balls and pressed the button on the first one she got her hands on. There was a flash of red light her Scizor appeared, separating Altair and Starlight with its body. Starlight pushed herself backwards as quickly as possible and bumped into something.

She turned in panic, but it was her Absol. Her relief didn't last long as Altair's Dusclops launched a Shadow Punch at Absol. Starlight dove to the side and landed on her side. By the time she recovered, Altair was advancing on her again. Scizor had been waylaid by Altair's Reniclus.

A surge of pain filled Starlight's mind and she turned to see Gardevoir taking a Shadow Ball attack from Altair's Dusclops. Gardevoir struggled to remain standing, but she was tired and Ghost type moves were super effective. She fell to the ground. "Gardevoir!" Starlight yelled in panic. This left Starlight without any of her Pokésoul abilities as well.

"Now you really don't stand a chance," Altair said, her tone full of contempt.

"I don't want to fight you," Starlight replied, though her voice was taking on an edge of panic. Altair hadn't shown any sign of hesitation yet. Part of Starlight wondered if Millennium was even still in there at all or if Altair had taken over completely. She refused to believe that.

Starlight considered sending out another Pokémon, but it would just delay the inevitable. Starlight was good at battling, but Altair was better. "Millennium," Starlight begged, getting to her knees then up to her feet. "I know you're still in there. You don't hate me!"

"Millennium is gone!" Altair yelled, her eyes narrowing in rage.

"No she's not!" Starlight insisted.

Starlight grasped desperately for something she could say. Bringing up their parents was a bad idea – Altair was especially mad about being sent to the hospital. There was something she could try though. "Luna and Sunny miss you!" Starlight blurted as Altair reached out a hand to grab Starlight again. There it was, a slight hesitation. Luna and Sunny were Starlight's twin younger siblings. Millennium had always doted on them. Altair's hatred of Starlight had never seemed to spill over to the twins.

"They…miss me?" Altair (or was it Millennium?) said, her voice sounding distant and confused. Around them their Pokémon still battled, but it was completely still in the space between Starlight and Altair.

"Starlight?" Altair said, her voice lighter and very confused.

"Millennium?" Starlight replied hopefully.

"What's going on?" Millennium wondered, holding her head. "Is this a city?"

Starlight wondered how long it had been since Millennium had been the dominant personality. It would have to go unanswered for the moment though. "Yes, we're in the city," Starlight replied. Millennium's Pokémon, sensing their owner's confusion, had stopped. Starlight's had as well.

"Were we fighting?" Millennium asked.

Starlight considered lying, but realized quickly that it would be obvious. "Yes," she replied reluctantly. Starlight returned her Absol and Scizor. Millennium followed suit and returned her Pokémon as well.

"Why would we be fighting?" Millennium wondered. "Did I do something again? Victini said I was doing something bad before." She looked around in confusion. "Where _is_ Victini?"

"I'm not sure," Starlight admitted. "But I know we can find it."

"You'll look with me?" Millennium asked.

"Of course!"

At this moment, Eclipse came running down the street towards Millennium. Realizing what he was going to do, Starlight tried to get into his path, yelling, "Don't!"

But it was too late, he ignored her and tackled Millennium. "Eclipse get off her!" Starlight commanded. He looked at her confused, but backed away. Millennium glared at him, her eyes filled with hate. She wasn't Millennium anymore. Starlight grabbed Altair's arm before she could send out another Pokémon. "We need to restrain her," Starlight said reluctantly.

"You just told me to get off her," Eclipse said in annoyance.

"She was fine before you tackled her," Starlight snapped.

"Get off me!" Altair yelled, trying to get her arms free from Starlight's grip. She managed one hand, but Eclipse caught her and used one of his belts as a rope.

"That should hold her until we get her to Preston," Eclipse said. Starlight quickly took Altair's Poké Balls and stowed them in her own bag.

"I'll kill you!" Altair yelled.

"No you won't," Eclipse replied.

"She was back to Millennium for a few minutes," Starlight said sadly.

"I didn't mean to bring Altair back," Eclipse said in a tone that was almost apologetic.

"I know you didn't," Starlight replied. She walked over to her unconscious Gardevoir and gently patted the Pokémon's head. She wasn't too badly hurt, but she needed more rest.

"Zoroark," Eclipse pointed at the Gardevoir. Zoroark walked over and picked up the Psychic Pokémon.

"Thank you," Starlight said. Zoroark inclined its head.

Eclipse propelled Altair in front of him while Altair spat out constant threats. Starlight tuned them out and watched her feet. Millennium was still in there, she just had to find a way to bring her to the surface permanently.

* * *

Kai and the others dragged Shaw up to the Pokésoul division only to find that most everyone was gone. Yunyi, Christina, Kirtus and River were the only ones inside. "Who is that?" Christina asked, looking at their captive curiously. "Is that Virus?"

"They kidnapped me!" Shaw exclaimed, eyes wide with fake innocence. "Please help me!" Christina gave him an unimpressed look, though Yunyi appeared frightened by his words.

"It's definitely him," Kai assured. "He basically admitted as much earlier."

Shaw's fearful expression dissolved back into annoyance and he glared at Kai.

"So being in Nature's Guardians runs in the family?" Christina wondered idly.

"I'm not working with my father," Shaw spat. "They paid me, I did the work. Er, if I was Virus I would have. I mean." Liliana rolled her eyes and pushed him none too gently into a chair.

"If you're not working with him, why are you both working for the same organization?" Nami wondered.

"He's been a member for years," Shaw said.

"You seem rather eager to sell out your father," Blake said.

"Well he was eager to sell out my mother."

"What does that mean?" River asked.

"Oh, I saw that in the file," Kai answered. "His mother was executed for using magic. Your father told the police that?"

"That's terrible," Christina gasped.

"I know magic's illegal here, but that's harsh," Blake agreed.

Shaw scoffed. "My mother didn't use magic. My father did. When the police came that's not what he said though."

"He set her up?" Kai said. "That's... That's awful."

"They didn't get along so well," Shaw said with a shrug. "Now _I_ don't get along with _him_ so well."

"If you hate your father so much, why are you helping Nature's Guardians?" River asked.

"They paid me," Shaw replied. At this point he'd apparently given up the pretense of not being Virus. "I take the work of whoever pays me. Besides, they wanted me to do some interesting stuff. I always love a challenge."

"You want a challenge? Let's go!" Lilliana said, holding up a Poké Ball.

"I don't have any Pokémon," Shaw replied.

"You have fists don't you?"

"Let's not assault the unarmed prisoner," Kai interrupted.

"Besides, his past is so sad," Christina said.

"Doesn't excuse him for being awful," Liliana replied.

"Where is Preston?" Kai wondered. "We can't do anything without him here anyway!"

"Oh, right. Starlight came and it turns out Altair is her sister except Altair has some other personality called Millennium who's actually nice. Then Starlight ran out followed by Eclipse and Preston followed them with Volke and Scarlet. Wyvrn, Gina and Christopher went to check on Zyra," River explained.

The four who had just returned all gave her the same blank stare. "Other personality?" Kai said.

"Is something wrong with Zyra?" Nami wondered.

"Sister?" Liliana asked.

"I should have gotten caught earlier, this is entertaining," Shaw mused.

"They should all be back soon," River assured, turning back to her laptop.

Christina looked imploringly at Kirtus who shrugged. "I think she summed it up pretty well," he said.

* * *

Lucinda followed behind Pecha as the girl sought the nearest clinic. Then a figure in the shadows drew her sight. Lucinda slipped away from Pecha to greet Sky. "Sky," Lucinda greeted.

"Hey Red!" Sky greeted. "I got us a job!"

"I already have a commitment," Lucinda replied.

"Then break it," Sky said with a flippant gesture. "I can get you more money than whatever you're being offered.

"The reward isn't gold," Lucinda said. Lucinda hadn't told Sky her family's affliction and had no particular desire to do so. It was Lucinda's problem and no one else had any business knowing unless they could be useful.

"It isn't gold?" Sky said, her expression showing complete disbelief. "But you don't like anything more than gold!"

"There is something," Lucinda replied, not elaborating.

Sky's eyes narrowed. "What is it?" Lucinda remained silent. "You're not going to tell me? Are you at least going to tell me what the job is?"

Lucinda considered. She supposed there was no reason not to. "I'm helping Pecha fight the Guardian Force."

"Berry girl?" Sky demanded. "_Her?" _Lucinda nodded. Sky scoffed. "Leave her and help me. Whatever she's offering I could too!" Sky insisted.

"I'm sorry Sky, but you can't," Lucinda said.

Sky scowled at her. "Fine. Go help berry girl. What do I care?" She vanished into the alley and Lucinda was surprised that she felt a bit of sadness at the girl's exit. People often called her cold hearted and Lucinda generally agreed, maybe she did actually care about Sky though. In the end it didn't matter, whatever friendship she felt for Sky, her family was much closer to her heart. Perhaps her relationship with Sky could be mended, perhaps not. But for a chance to finally cure her father and brother, any price was worth paying.

Lucinda walked away from the alley to rejoin Pecha.

* * *

"Is that Pecha?" Gina asked, running forwards towards the girl who was steadying someone lying on her Luxray. "Pecha!" Gina called.

Pecha paused and looked up. "Gina?" she said. "We need to get Nevin to a clinic!"

"What happened to him?" Gina gasped, running to his side. Wyvrn and Christopher followed.

"I don't know," Pecha replied. "We need to get him help."

"Let me see what I can do," Gina said. She frantically reached into her bag and pulled out a charcoal stick. She hastily traced out a simple healing spell pattern onto Nevin's hand and closed her eyes to focus. "Heal," she said. She felt a faint drain of energy as the spell worked, but Gina was still just an apprentice. It wouldn't be enough to heal him completely.

"Did that work?" Pecha asked, her voice coming out between pants. She sounded exhausted.

"It helped," Gina replied. "We should still get him to a hospital."

"I need to go back and check on Zyra," Pecha said, standing and beginning to head back to the gate. Gina grabbed her arm.

"You're not going back there alone," Gina protested. "You look like you should be checked out at the clinic too."

"I'm fine," Pecha said, waving off Gina's concern in a move that showed off the rather painful looking burn on her hand.

"We can go check on Zyra, right Wyvrn," Christopher offered. He bumped shoulders with Wyvrn in a show of comradery that Wyvrn glared at him for.

"But –" Pecha began.

"That sounds great," Gina interrupted. "Thanks." She smiled brightly at both of them. Christopher began to head off, but Wyvrn hesitated.

"It isn't safe for the two of you to be alone," he cautioned.

"I'm with them," Lucinda said. Gina startled as she hadn't noticed the mercenary before. Actually, it was more than that, Gina was certain the woman hadn't been there a moment ago. Gina put it out of her mind, she was here now and that was all that mattered.

"See? We'll be fine," Gina assured. Wyvrn nodded and walked off after Christopher.

"Do you know where the closest clinic is?" Pecha asked.

Gina shook her head and shrugged. "It shouldn't be too hard to find," she said hopefully.

"No." The protest had come from Nevin who was pushing himself up on Zap's back. The Luxray gave a very put upon look and sighed.

"You're hurt," Pecha pointed out.

"I feel better now," Nevin insisted. "We can't waste time going to a clinic, Zyra's in danger."

"We sent people to help her," Pecha replied.

"We should still go back and check on her," Nevin said. His voice was colder than Gina'd ever heard it before and she felt like she may be coming into an argument that had started earlier.

Pecha was clearly getting irritated. "What do you want to do Nevin? Hobble back out there and watch Zyra fight? That would just make it harder for her!"

"You abandoned her," Nevin said.

"To help you!"

Gina quickly put herself in between the two to try to put a stop to the fight. "Calm down. Wyvrn and Christopher are checking on Zyra, she'll be fine," Gina assured Nevin. "The best thing for you to do right now is get medical attention. It's what Zyra would want."

"I'm not going to a clinic," Nevin said.

"You're not going back out there either," Pecha replied.

"When Zyra comes back she'll go to the Guardian Force. I'll wait there," Nevin finally compromised.

"Fine," Gina agreed before Pecha could argue some more. It wasn't ideal, but his condition didn't seem all that bad and he probably only needed rest anyway. Lucinda didn't seem to care what their plan was and simply watched the proceedings with a bored look on her face.

"Alright," Pecha relented, though she clearly was still a bit angry. Nevin slid off of Zap's back and walked with the support of Typhlosion. The Luxray shook herself off and heaved a sigh of relief. "He wasn't that heavy," Pecha muttered to her partner. She chuckled at whatever response the Luxray had to that and Gina felt a bit jealous. How nice must it be, to have a partner who you knew would have your back no matter what?

The group walked towards the Guardian Force offices and Gina made sure to keep herself between Pecha and Nevin. She really didn't want to have to deal with them arguing anymore. Lucinda took up the rear, moving so quietly if Gina didn't glance backwards every so often she'd think the mercenary had left.

When they got to the Pokésoul division Preston and his group were still gone, but Kai was back.

Nami's gasp was the first thing Gina heard. "Nevin are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he assured. Pecha scoffed quietly at that, but it went unremarked. "Zyra was still fighting him though. We left her." He gave Pecha a sideways look at this but the girl ignored him.

"Is she going to be okay?" Nami wondered.

"We sent Wyvrn and Christopher to check on her," Pecha replied. "And she wasn't losing when we left."

"She wasn't winning either," Nevin countered.

"Yes, well I suppose we could have stayed and kept dragging her down," Pecha said waspishly.

Nami looked confused at the argument and looked to Gina for help. Gina gave her a helpless shrug. "That's great and all, but look what we found!" Kai interrupted. She pointed at a small child who was sitting in a chair next to River.

"You found a child?" Gina asked.

"Had you lost him?" Pecha wondered.

"This is Virus!" Kai exclaimed. Pecha, Gina and Nevin all gave her blank looks. "Criminal hacker? Major problem for me? You've heard of him, right?" The three newcomers just shook their heads. "You really haven't heard of him?"

"No," Gina said apologetically. "Good job though."

"Yeah, good job catching the little kid. I'm sure he put up a good fight," Pecha said.

"He was hard to find!" Kai protested. "He's a genius! The best hacker I've ever met! But that's only because I can't rightfully claim I've met myself."

River looked slightly insulted. "What about me?" she asked.

"Well, you're extremely good of course, but, like you said, you started your career when you were fourteen. He's _eleven._"

The boy in question seemed to be preening slightly and was giving off a very smug aura. "So his name is Virus?" Nevin asked. He had found a chair and sat down heavily in it. "That's a strange name."

"No, his name's Shaw Steel," Kai replied. "Virus is his codename."

"Wait, like Dr. Rob Steel?" Pecha asked.

"This is his son," Nami replied. She had walked over to Nevin and was looking him over. "What happened?" she asked.

Nevin looked at the floor so Nami turned to Pecha who shrugged. "I really don't know," Pecha replied. "He was already hurt when I got there. Zyra was fighting with this man and she told me to get Nevin to a healer."

"Did you get a good look at the man?" Kai asked.

"His name was Alex," Nevin said, looking up from the floor. "That's what Scarlet called him." Kai rushed over to Preston's desk and flipped through some of his papers.

"Is this him?" Kai asked, showing a poster with pictures on the side. She pointed at one of them.

"That's him," Nevin said with a shudder.

"Alex is a Salamance Pokésoul," Liliana informed.

"Yep, that sounds right," Pecha said.

"That Salamance was a pushover," Lucinda commented. Pecha gave her a disbelieving look.

"Do you know if Preston caught up to Starlight?" Gina asked.

River and Kai looked at her blankly, then both started. "Oh!" River said. "I should've been looking for that!" River and Kai both tripped over each other trying to reach their respective laptops.

* * *

Wolf and Mira sat side by side in their cell. Mira was watching Xero, wondering if he was actually asleep. She'd yet to come to a concrete conclusion. "Mira," Wolf said breaking the silence. She jumped a bit, not expecting the sound.

"Yes?" she asked.

"You can look into people's minds, right?"

"Well, yes, but I don't!" she said hastily. "I wouldn't look in your mind."

Her assurances were halted by Wolf. "I know that," he said. "I was actually hoping you'd be able to look at my mind."

"What?" Mira said startled.

"I feel like the memories are just out of reach. I can't get there by myself, but if you help I think I might finally be able to see what happened."

"I might be able to help, but if I do I'll see everything too," Mira cautioned.

Wolf shrugged. "I trust you," he said with a grin. "Besides I don't remember it anyway so what's to be embarrassed about?"

That seemed like odd logic to Mira, but he seemed to know what he was getting into. "Well, if you're sure."

"Positive," Wolf assured. Mira reached out to him and prepared to look into his memories.


	36. A Boy Named Wolf

**Author's Note: **

**This is an odd chapter, just warning you. It was also supposed to be part of the last chapter, but it's so different from everything else I made it it's own thing. Thanks as always to everyone who reviewed and I hope you like the chapter! :)  
**

**This chapter (except for the very end) takes place in Wolf's mind, talking in quotes is one of the present characters talking mentally to each other, speech in _italics _is people in the past talking out loud. (So, "" = present, _i = _past)  
**

* * *

Chapter 32: A Boy Named Wolf

* * *

Mira drifted into Wolf's memories and dragged Wolf along with her. Silvia was brought along due to her connection to Wolf, and Kira was what was allowing Mira to see his memories in the first place. "Think back to the last thing you can remember before you missing past is," Mira commanded. She didn't speak aloud, the command was given by her mental voice in Wolf's head.

Wolf did so. Mira could feel the memory as Wolf dragged it to the surface. She took ahold of it and it formed itself around them. A smaller Wolf was in bed, clearly not asleep but pretending to be. "Why can we see me?" Wolf wondered. "Shouldn't this be from my point of view?"

"When it happened it was from your point of view," Mira replied. "Memories are odd things and warp and fade with time. What we're seeing isn't exactly what the world was, it's what you remember it to be. At this point you couldn't see yourself or the rooms behind you, but in different memories you knew what they looked like so your mind is extrapolating what they look like from different memories."

"So we're not reliving the exact memory?" Wolf asked.

"We're reliving your representation of it. This will be accurate representation of your memory, not necessarily an accurate representation of what happened." Wolf looked at her in confusion, then shrugged.

"As long as it works," he said.

"Memories have a habit of changing over time and being colored by our perceptions, but they should be clear enough to at least get an idea of what happened."

"Alright, so how do we do this?" Wolf asked.

"Just relax and watch," Mira replied. "We have to find the memories that disappeared first, then we should be able to skip around to parts you thought were important at the time. Hopefully we'll find out what happened to you in one of them and I can fix it."

"I remember being really excited," Wolf mused, looking at his younger self. "I can't remember why though."

"I remember being excited too," Silvia added. Since Mira was inside Wolf's mind, she was able to hear the Pokémon's voice and found the experience a bit disconcerting.

"You two hadn't met yet?" Mira asked.

"Not yet," Wolf replied. "Whenever we met happened sometime in the blank part of my past."

Movement startled them both and they looked to see young Wolf climbing out of bed and tiptoeing over to his window. "I don't remember this," Wolf said.

"This must be the start of the blocked memories," Mira said. They watched as past Wolf opened the window and slipped through, closing it silently behind him. Mira walked through the wall as if it weren't there – because it wasn't. Wolf followed after, looking behind him in wonder and putting his arm through the door and waving it around.

"Huh," he said. "That's cool."

He turned and noticed Mira and his past self had kept going and he ran after. It was late at night, the only illumination coming from the street lights and the cars that passed by every so often. Young Wolf kept his head down and walked along confidently. "I'm surprised none of these people are stopping you," Mira murmured. There were people on the street, but they all ignored Wolf walking beside them.

Wolf shrugged. "People tend to ignore things that don't have to do with them. Besides, it's not like I was asking for help."

Past Wolf had managed to get to the gate without being stopped and Mira wondered how he would get through. It was disturbingly easy. Past Wolf simply walked past the guard and out the gate. "Was it really that easy?" Mira said in surprise.

"Well, the gates are there to keep people out, not in," Wolf pointed out. "The barrier's one way."

"I guess so," Mira agreed.

"You'd think they'd be more careful about letting unaccompanied children out though," Kira commented.

Wolf nodded, then his eyes went wide and he stared at the Kirlia. "How come I heard that?" he asked.

"This is your mind," Kira replied. "Here, thoughts are the same as speech."

"Kira's speaking into your mind," Mira clarified. "That's actually what I'm doing too."

"Me too!" Silvia agreed.

"Huh," Wolf said. "This mind stuff is weird."

"It really is," Mira agreed. "Even most Psychic Pokésouls don't understand most of it." They drifted along after Past Wolf who was headed somewhere with extreme determination.

"Where am I going?" Wolf wondered.

"We can probably skip ahead now," Mira said. "We don't want to live all this out at real time." At Wolf's nod Mira closed her eyes and focused. They stood outside the memory now and memories washed over them. In them Past Wolf walked and slept and walked some more. Finally one caught her eye where he was stopped in a field. This one was more prominent, so Mira opened it. It coalesced around them.

"This is really weird," Wolf commented.

"Well, none of this is real. It's all created from our minds," Mira replied.

"So you're saying one of us is really weird then."

Mira shrugged. "Hey! It's me!" Silvia exclaimed, interrupting the conversation.

Mira and Wolf turned to see Past Silvia launching herself at Past Wolf. "I came out here looking for her," Wolf realized.

"Looks like it," Mira agreed.

"How much time past between this and the first memory?" Wolf asked.

"I don't the exact number, but it's been over a week," Mira replied. "Not more than two though."

"So I was still out here for much longer," Wolf mused.

"And we haven't found out why neither of us remember this," Silvia added.

"This hasn't helped you remember?" Kira asked.

"No," Wolf said. Silvia replied in kind.

"Shall we skip some more?" Mira asked.

"Yeah, let's get to something else," Wolf confirmed, watching his younger self hug Silvia, who was still an Eevee. Mira could feel the faint sadness coming off him that he couldn't remember something that was so clearly a moment of great joy. Hopefully she'd be able to fix that at the end of this.

The memory faded and they were surrounded by scenes again. Mira walked through them, searching for one that felt important. All the ones she'd seen so far were similar to the earlier ones, only this time Silvia was with Wolf on the journey. Wolf looked at them all wistfully and Silvia leaned against him supportively.

Another memory finally poked at Mira's awareness and she opened it. This one was a few days later and Past Wolf and Silvia were in a town. They were walking along the street and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"What's special about this?" Wolf wondered.

"I don't know," Mira replied.

"There," Kira said. Mira looked at where her Pokémon gestured. A girl walked past Young Wolf, a Rufflet following excitedly behind her. "That is Erika," Kira said.

"It is?" Wolf asked. He peered at the girl in contemplation. "She's so young."

"This is from over ten years ago," Mira pointed out.

"Is she with Razan yet?" Silvia wondered.

"I'd say yes," Kira replied, nodding towards a younger version of Razan who was standing with a Drowzee.

"Is that his partner Pokémon?" Mira wondered. "It's probably a Hypno by now."

"It must be," Kira said. Mira watched with interest as Past Erika, much younger than the one Mira had met, but still older than Mira, greeted Razan. Her face lit up and to Mira's surprise Razan smiled back. He hadn't seemed at all friendly from what she'd seen.

"Over here," Silvia called, drawing Mira's attention away from Razan. She turned to see Past Wolf arguing with someone.

_Get away from me Pokésoul, _the man growled. The words were a bit distorted and Mira wasn't sure the conversation was the exact one that had happened, but the meaning would be the same.

_I don't have to do what you say, _Past Wolf shot back with a glare. The man glared at Wolf and kicked Silvia when she got too close to him. She stumbled backwards and gave him a look of confusion. Wolf yelled in rage and tackled the man. However, Wolf was much too small to do any damage to the man and he was roughly shoved back, landing heavily on the ground.

The man was going to advance on Wolf again when a hand on his arm stopped him. Razan stood there, glaring. _Leave him alone,_ Razan demanded. Erika joined him, folding her arms and glaring.

The man scoffed._ You going to make me? _

Razan released the man and a wave of psychic force exploded from his palm, sending the man flying into the dirt road. Razan walked past the man's heaving form and extended a hand to Past Wolf. Wolf took it, a grin on his face. _Thanks! _Past Wolf said.

_Are you alright? _Erika asked.

_Yup! _Past Wolf said. _How did you do that? _He looked at Razan with big eyes.

_I'm a Pokésoul. _Razan replied. _We can all use the powers of our Pokémon partners._

_I can too? _Past Wolf wondered.

_Yes, _Erika replied. _I have them as well. _She demonstrated, holding a sphere of whirling air in her palm before letting it dissipate.

_Cool! How do you do that? _Past Wolf asked.

"So you've always asked a lot of questions I guess," Mira commented.

"I like to know things," Wolf replied, not at all self-conscious.

_I can teach you if you'd like, _Razan offered.

"This is really weird," Silvia said. "Why's he so friendly here?"

"Well, he doesn't know you're from the city yet," Mira replied. "Maybe that's why?"

The memory faded as Wolf followed Razan and Erika to a field to train. In the field of memories again there were faint images of Wolf talking with Razan and Erika. Mira opened one at random.

Razan, Erika and Wolf were sitting in the grass just outside of a town. Silvia was playing with Erika's Rufflet and Razan's Drowzee slept. _When do you think I should go home? _Past Wolf wondered.

_Do you really want to go back to the city? _Razan asked, disdain clear in his voice.

_My mom's there, _Wolf replied.

_The people in the city aren't nice, _Erika said.

_Razan is from the city, isn't he? _Wolf pointed out.

_Well, not everyone there is terrible. But a lot are, _Erika replied. _Besides, he lives here now._

_Not everyone here is good, _Wolf said. _Like the raiders. _

_The raiders wouldn't be a problem if the people in the city actually did something to protect us, _Erika said.

_Maybe they just can't? _Wolf suggested.

_They have the technology, _Razan countered. _They just don't care enough about the people out here to do anything. _

Wolf nodded and watched the Pokémon, a thoughtful look on his face. It passed quickly and he jumped up. _It's been ten minutes, time to train some more! _

Razan rolled his eyes slightly, but stood and he explained to Wolf more about Pokésoul powers.

"If you spent this much time with him how come he didn't recognize you?" Mira wondered. "Or did he and he just didn't care?"

"He was very young here," Kira pointed out. "And Silvia wasn't a Sylveon yet."

"Actually, I probably wouldn't recognize you either," Mira admitted, looking between the tiny Past Wolf and the older version. They had the same white hair, but Past Wolf was so young most of his features hadn't finished developing. "Wyvrn probably looked similar to that when he was that age."

They left the memory of Razan training Wolf and Mira skipped ahead some more. "I think this one is close to when you lost your memories," Mira warned. She opened it and they were in a town. This memory took place a couple months after the last.

The town was almost burned completely to the ground and there were no people to be found other than charred bodies. _This is terrible, _Erika said, horror in her voice. Razan had his head bowed, staring at the ground. Past Wolf looked around in shock.

_What happened? _Past Wolf asked.

_Raiders, _Razan replied. _We need to get out. _He herded Wolf out of the town and was followed closely by Erika. A movement caught Mira's eye and she thought she caught a glimpse of an Umbreon, but it was gone when she looked closer. She turned back to Past Wolf.

_Why would they do that?_ Wolf wondered.

_There's nothing stopping them, _Erika replied. _Raiders attacked my town all the time. All we could do was pay them to leave us alone. We didn't have enough people to defend ourselves from them. _

_The cities claim that things like this never happen, _Razan said. _They're letting this happen!_

_What can we do about it? _Erika wondered. _They ignore us. We don't matter to them. _

_We have to make them care, _Razan replied. _Have you ever heard of Nature's Guardians?_

_Nature's Guardians? _Wolf repeated. _Nope. _

_I think I have, _Erika said. _They were put down several years ago, weren't they?_

_The people may have been crushed by the city, but the intent is still there. The cities want to ignore us? Want to pretend we only exist for them to walk all over? We won't let them, _Razan declared.

_You want to restart Nature's Guardians? _Erika asked.

_Yes. And I'd like you to help me. _

_Of course, _Erika instantly agreed. _Whatever you need me to do. _Razan nodded at her thankfully.

Past Wolf stared guiltily at his feet. _I can't, _he said. _I need to go home. _

Razan sighed. _You're sure? _He asked.

_Yes, _Wolf said apologetically.

_I understand, _Razan replied. _But I can't let you go knowing about this. _

_What? _Wolf looked at him confused. _I won't tell anyone!_

_You may not have a choice, _Razan said. _If they find out you knew me, they will get what they need. _

_What are you going to do? _Erika asked.

_I will take his memory. _

_What? I don't want to forget! _Wolf said in a panic.

_Sorry, _Razan said, grabbing Wolf by the arm and putting a finger to his temple. Wolf went limp as did Silvia. The memory faded and the next one was of Wolf waking up in a clinic in the city, his mother hovering over him with a worried look on her face.

_What happened? Where have you been? _She demanded.

_I don't remember, _Wolf replied.

Current Wolf was silent. "Can you make it so I can actually remember everything?" he asked quietly.

"Now that I know what was done, I think so," Mira replied. She knew when and how the block was applied, so finding it was quite easy. She and Kira grabbed ahold of the mental block Razan had placed and they tore it apart. His block was very well done, and if she hadn't known exactly what to look for Mira never would have found it.

Wolf gave a slight gasp and Silvia flinched. Wolf took a deep breath and nodded to himself. "Let's get out of here," he said.

Mira nodded and pushed her way out of Wolf's mind, depositing him back in his conscious mind as she left. She opened her eyes to find she'd ended up lying against Wolf's shoulder during the meld and quickly pushed away and back to her own space, turning slightly red. Kira laughed in the back of her mind and Mira gave her a mental glare.

"Are you okay?" Mira asked, once she'd calmed down.

"I'm fine," Wolf replied, though his tone was much less cheerful than normal. "I just don't' understand, he helped me. Why is he so evil now?"

"He thinks he's helping people," Mira replied. "He's just doing it by hurting others." Wolf shook his head.

"I don't really know what to think anymore," Wolf admitted.

* * *

**Note:  
**

**The destroyed village was Zyra's. It's not important, but it's some trivia for you.  
**


	37. Planning Time

**Author's Note:**

**I think there's three more chapters and an epilogue to this story. Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 33: Planning Time

* * *

Wyvrn and Christopher walked through the gates and immediately saw Zyra arguing with the gatekeeper. "That was easy," Christopher remarked.

"Waste of time," Wyvrn muttered, turning around.

"Yo, Zyra!" Christopher called out.

"Guardian person!" Zyra greeted. "Look, I'm with them," Zyra said to the gatekeeper.

The gatekeeper looked at Christopher. "Are you a citizen?" He asked dubiously.

"Yep," Christopher said. He handed his ID to the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper took it and handed a pass to Zyra, a look of relief on his face.

_Wonder how long she's been arguing with him, _Vieara mused.

_It looks like a while, _Christopher replied.

"Hurry up," Wyvrn complained. With the pass issued, Zyra was able to pass through the gate.

"Why didn't you have a pass?" Christopher wondered.

"I gave it to Scarlet," Zyra replied. "She gave it to Liliana, I think. Never thought I'd be fighting to try to get _into_ a city," Zyra grumbled. She was quiet for a moment. "Did you see Nevin?"

"He was pathetic," Wyvrn replied.

"We saw him, he was fine," Christopher corrected. "Gina and Pecha were taking him to a clinic."

"Good," Zyra said.

"So you beat the guy who attacked you?" Christopher asked.

"He ran away," Zyra replied. "Coward." This sentiment was echoed by Wyvrn. Zyra and he exchanged a startled glance, then a nod of understanding.

* * *

In the Pokésoul office the atmosphere was rather tense as everyone was waiting for something to happen.

"Here is my number," Lucinda said breaking the silence. "When you need me for something call me." Pecha took the scrap of paper with a nod.

"Alright, thanks Lucinda!" Lucinda gave her an exasperated look and left. Nami didn't blame the mercenary for leaving. It was rather boring just sitting there.

The silence was broken again a few moments later when Wyvrn, Christopher, and Zyra walked into the Pokésoul office.

"Zyra!" Nevin yelled, tripping over the chair in his haste to get to her. His Typhlosion assisted and he managed to stay on his feet.

"Nevin!" Zyra returned. "You're okay?" Nevin finally got to her and enveloped the wild girl in a hug.

"I'm fine," he said. "I'm sorry I left you."

"I told you to," Zyra replied. "Besides, I totally handled him." The two separated and took in the rather amused looks of the others. Nevin blushed slightly but Zyra seemed unaffected. "So what's been happening here?"

"Oh! I got this one!" Kai exclaimed looking up from her computer. She was about to begin her explanation when River interrupted.

"It will take way too long to explain everything," River said. "Wait for the book to come out."

"Someone's writing a book?" Nami asked.

"I'm sure _several_ people will write books about this," River replied. "All that's relevant right now is that we're working on our plan to attack Nature's Guardians."

"Attacking is something I'm good at," Zyra said confidently.

* * *

Sky went back to Altair's base, but the woman wasn't there. Her minion, the squirrely guy named Talon was. "Hey, isn't Altair supposed to be here?" Sky asked.

"Something came up," Talon replied. "You can handle the wall by yourself right?"

"You're not helping?" Sky asked absently. She and Locke went to inspect the explosives.

"I'm not really good at, well," he started.

"Anything?" Sky supplied.

"Blowing things up," Talon corrected. His voice was still rather meek. He seemed scared of her, something which Sky delighted in.

"Well, these look good," Sky said, picking up the explosive pieces. Locke carefully took some as well, making sure not to mar any with her claws. "Time to make some chaos." Sky grinned at Locke.

The two walked out into the dim light of the lower level and walked straight for the wall. The walls weren't load bearing, or even functional actually, so their act of destruction would turn a lot heads without damaging much. Sky was an assassin, but she didn't want to actually destroy an entire city.

It was easy to find a section of wall with no one around. The people in the lower level tended to be bunched around the power plants, the further away you got, the fewer people there were. Altair had set her base up far from all the power plants so all Sky had to do was head straight for the wall.

_This look good? _She asked.

_Seems good to me, _Locke replied, putting down her explosives. Sky quickly put the explosives on the wall and set up the trigger. She and Locke walked a safe distance away, exchanged a glance, then Sky pressed the button on her detonator.

The explosion gave a loud _boom_, swiftly followed by a flash of orange and a grey cloud of dust. The fire quickly went out and the dust gradually cleared, revealing a sizeable hole in the outer wall. You wouldn't be able to fit a Snorlax through there, but most people would have no problem. Rubble was strewn around the area, both inside and outside the wall as the barrier only protected against organic matter.

_Pretty impressive huh? _Sky thought.

_People will certainly notice, _Locke replied thoughtfully. They turned to leave and found Lucinda watching them. Sky immediately went on guard.

"You blew up the wall?" Lucinda said, her voice devoid of any particular emotion.

"Pretty impressive, right?" Sky asked.

"Altair has been captured by the Guardian Force," Lucinda said.

"Really? I guess I won't get paid then."

"I'm working with the Guardian Force right now," Lucinda said. "They're going to want to know who did this."

"So you're going to give me up?" Sky asked, one hand moving discreetly to her blade. She didn't want to fight with Lucinda, but if the mercenary made her than Sky would. For Sky, nothing was more important than herself and Locke.

"That depends on your plans," Lucinda replied. "If you're planning to attack the city or the Guardian Force, I have to tell them."

"And if I said my job was over?"

"They don't need to know you were here. Altair is known to have subordinates around."

"Isn't lying against whatever deal you made with the berry?" Sky asked, hand still on her knife.

"No. I agreed to help fight Nature's Guardians. If you aren't working for them anymore, then I'm not obligated to help them with you."

"Altair's minion is named Talon," Sky said casually. "It's a real pity neither of us could stop him from breaking the wall isn't it?"

"A pity indeed," Lucinda agreed. "Too bad we didn't manage to stop him."

"It really is," Sky agreed.

* * *

Starlight and Eclipse stood at the base of the elevator, waiting for it to arrive. Altair struggled against the grip Eclipse had on her, but she wasn't able to break his grip with the belt restraining her. The door opened and Starlight found herself face to face with Preston, Volke and Scarlet.

"So you found her then," Preston commented.

"Uh, yes," Starlight replied.

"Are either of you hurt?" Scarlet asked.

"No," Eclipse replied.

"We're fine," Starlight confirmed.

"Let's bring her back to headquarters," Preston said gesturing for them to enter the elevator.

Starlight did so, feeling guilty even though no one had said anything about her abrupt escape. She really wasn't hurt, but Gardevoir was going to need a few days before it was back up to full strength. Starlight might as well for that matter. Even though her injuries were all superficial they still hurt and she was tired.

"Let me go!" Altair demanded.

"Obviously not," Preston replied.

"It would be nice if you told us how to get to Nature's Guardian's base," Scarlet said. Altair just glared.

The elevator rushed upwards and Starlight felt the disorienting feeling of fast movement again. She was relieved when it stopped. They walked back to the Guardian Force office, Eclipse maintaining his grip on Altair.

They left Altair to be put in a cell with the promise that Starlight could visit later.

When they got upstairs, Kai immediately threw some confetti in Preston's face. He blinked at her and Kai grinned hugely. "Ooo, confetti," Scarlet said. Volke simply removed the small pieces from his hair and resumed his usual position at the door.

"You got her!" Kai exclaimed.

"Yes we did. Also, no confetti in the office," Preston replied.

"But it's fun," Kai replied with a grin. Preston shook his head at her and went to his desk.

"While you were gone we got an alert," Kai said, walking back to her laptop. "Apparently the wall's been breached."

"How bad?" Preston asked.

"The wall was damaged, the barrier wasn't so it seems to be cosmetic," Kai informed.

Preston nodded. "It's probable that Nature's Guardians had something to do with that, but the defense division can handle that. We should focus on attacking their headquarters."

"Who is that?" Volke asked, pointing at a small boy sitting at the table.

"This is Shaw Steel," River replied.

"He's Virus!" Kai said excitedly.

"He's also a jerk," Liliana added.

"You found him, good job," Preston complimented. "Have you gotten anything useful from him?"

"We waited for you," Kai said.

"Of course," Preston replied flatly.

"If it's Nature's Guardians that you're after I can give you a list of their agents in the cities," Shaw offered.

"That's awfully helpful of you," Preston said suspiciously.

"I don't have any loyalty to them," Shaw replied. "Besides, I know the only way I'm staying out of prison is by helping."

"You've got that right," Kai said. "All the crimes that can be traced back to you, your life is ours." Shaw shrugged.

"I want the list of agents, but we won't act on that until we've taken their base."

"Can we get the location of the base off Altair?" Gina wondered.

"It's not a location we need," Blake replied.

"What does that mean?" Pecha wondered.

"Well, the base moves. Even if you know where it was when you left, it's gone when you want to go back," Blake explained.

"We were given communicators," Liliana added. "Altair should have one. We'll need her access code though."

"What about yours?" Scarlet wondered. "They might think you're still brainwashed."

"I guess that might work," Liliana said.

"First we need to get the communicator from Altair," Preston said. "Do you think you can get her to help?" He directed the question at Starlight.

"I don't know," Starlight replied. "She briefly reverted to her Millennium personality and I may be able to get her to do that again. But, I don't think Millennium actually knows anything. I think she'd try to help us, but I don't know if she can."

"Are you okay?" Scarlet asked abruptly. The conversation stopped and Starlight followed Scarlet's gaze to Nevin.

"What happened to you?" Starlight gasped. Nevin was sitting, slightly hunched in pain and his breaths were clearly labored. There was a spattering of bruises across his arms and one on his face. Starlight quickly realized this was a stupid question as he must have gotten his wounds from Alex.

"It was Alex," Pecha confirmed. She didn't look particularly untouched either, though she didn't appear to be in much pain. One of her hands was clearly burned and the sleeve of her coat was singed. Bruising was darkening around her throat and Starlight wondered what exactly had happened. She wasn't sure how Pecha had gotten involved.

Scarlet crossed the room to kneel by Nevin's chair. "I'm a healer," she explained when he looked at her in confusion. "I should be able to fix most of the damage. You'll still need rest though." Gina wandered over to watch and Starlight looked away once she realized she didn't understand the magic they were using at all.

"Can we get a communicator from Alex?" Preston wondered.

"Nope," Zyra replied. "He ran away."

"Alright, I guess we'll talk with Altair then." Preston gestured to Starlight and she quickly followed him out the door.

* * *

Preston accompanied Starlight down to the cells. "Do you think you can get her Millennium personality out?" Preston asked.

"Maybe," Starlight replied. "I did it before, but I don't know if the same thing will work twice." She went quiet as they entered the holding cells. Preston opened a door and they came into a room where Altair sat at one side. There appeared to be nothing separating Altair from Starlight and Preston, but a faint glimmer in the space indicated differently. The barrier separating them was almost entirely invisible, but it was impenetrable.

"Starlight," Altair hissed. She lunged towards her sister, but the barrier glowed blue when she touched it and she was unable to go further. Starlight jumped back in fright, but Preston had no reaction.

"We need your communicator," Preston said.

"To get on the base?" Altair asked. "Alright."

"What?" Starlight said surprised.

"You're just…giving it to us?" Preston clarified.

"Sure," Altair said. She waved the device at them teasingly. Preston opened a small hole in the barrier and gestured for her to pass it over. Altair did so and Preston closed the hole again.

"Why are you helping?" Starlight wondered.

"Why not? You caught me after all," Altair replied. Starlight didn't believe this at all. Why would Altair want them to have the communicator?

"Millennium," Starlight said.

"That's not my name!" Altair hissed.

"Millennium," Starlight repeated more strongly.

"No," Atlair refuted, shaking her head.

"It's not too late for you to come home," Starlight said quietly.

"It's not my home!"

"It is if you want it to be," Starlight said. Altair held her head as if in pain and was shaking slightly. "Luna and Sunny would be happy to see you again."

When she raised her head again the anger was gone. "Starlight?" Millennium wondered.

"Millennium," Starlight said with relief.

"Do you know why Altair gave me this?" Preston asked, apparently following the proceedings.

Millennium looked at it with confusion. "It's…I don't know what happens. That… I think it's not enough."

"Not enough?" Starlight wondered.

"There's something else that prevents people from entering. Something… A barrier! I think, there's a barrier."

"There's a barrier?" Preston repeated. "Scarlet, Liliana and Blake never mentioned."

"It's secret, I think," Millennium said. "Keeps people out, not in."

"So if they see us coming they won't open the barrier," Preston presumed. Millennium nodded. "Thanks for your help. I'm sorry, but we have to leave you in there for now."

"No I, I understand," Millennium replied.

"I'll come and see you again soon," Starlight promised.

Millennium's eyes flickered. "Why would I want to see you?" Altair snapped. Starlight smiled sadly and left.

* * *

"We should call Lucinda back," Kai said. "Preston's going to start making a plan soon and we might as well have her here." Pecha nodded and borrowed Nami's phone to call the mercenary.

Lucinda showed up several minutes later with Sky in tow. "I didn't invite her!" Pecha said.

"Hey berry girl," Sky greeted. "I thought I'd help."

"From the kindness of your heart?" Pecha scoffed.

"Why not?" Sky asked with a shrug.

"Because you're an evil assassin?" Zyra offered.

"I'm an assassin. I'm not an _evil _assassin," Sky corrected.

"Because that's totally different," Pecha said.

"I'm offering my help! Totally for free too and this is how you treat me," Sky said theatrically.

"Fine, you can help," Kai said.

"What?" Pecha demanded.

"Well, we are going up against an entire organization. We really can use the help." Pecha was clearly unhappy, but she didn't protest anymore. Her eyes however, remained fixed suspiciously on Sky.

* * *

Preston and Starlight returned a few minutes later with the communicator. "Here's the plan then," Preston said. "Liliana will call in and she and Blake will go back the base."

"Aren't they wanted there?" Nami asked.

"No," Liliana replied. "They don't tell anyone you're not allowed to leave so they can't say what it is we did wrong. As far as they know we're just on a long mission. That's what they said about Blake anyway. When we get back everyone will treat us like normal. As long as we act fast we'll take them by surprise."

"Plus they probably still think you're brainwashed," Scarlet added.

"So Liliana and Blake will be going up first. They will find the controls to the barrier and take it down. Once that's happened, Blake will make contact and the rest of us can follow," Preston explained.

"Not all of us are going up are we?" Kai asked. "I mean, I'm great at hacking but I'm no good in a fight."

"She was taken down by the eleven year old," Liliana added.

"Was not!" Kai protested.

"Yeah you were," Shaw countered smugly.

"You won't be part of the fighting," Preston assured. "But I do need you there. Part of taking over Nature's Guardians will be getting control of their systems. You're the best person to do that."

"Alright," Kai said. "Take the girl who's afraid of heights up to a _flying_ base. No problem," Kai muttered to herself.

"We're going to be splitting into teams," Preston said. "We'll go up separately which hopefully will confuse them. Kai's team will be after the computer systems. Another team will be after Razan, I will lead this one. We also need one to recover Wolf and Mira."

"I can try to help the brainwashed people," Starlight offered.

"It's probably better to do that later," Scarlet countered. "When you helped Liliana you were pretty vulnerable." Starlight shrugged in agreement.

"We know that some of the people are up there against their will so we will be using as little force as possible," Preston said. "Liliana and Blake will be going up first. My team will go after that as Razan will probably come to confront us. The Wolf rescue team and Kai's team will come in after we've started the fight."

"We should have a second fight team," Wyvrn suggested. "If we can split their forces they're less likely to notice our infiltration teams."

"Good idea," Preston agreed. "I will head the first strike team, Wyvrn you take the second." Wyvrn nodded. "Kirtus, you should go with the team to find Wolf and Mira since it's your tracking device."

"Alright," Kirtus agreed.

Kai pulled out a digital pen and began drawing on the screen built into the wall. She wrote down five team names and began listing people beside them. The first was labeled 'Advance Team' and had Liliana and Blake's names listed. The next two were called 'Strike Team' though the first had a one and the second a two after it. The fourth team was labeled the 'Wolf Rescue Team' and the last the 'Awesome Hacker Team' which she had put her name next to. Preston's name was listed on the first strike team and Wyvrn's on the second.

"Put Kirtus down," Preston prompted. Kai nodded and added the sleepy boy's name to the Wolf rescue team.

"I'm going with Preston," Scarlet announced. Kai added her name to the first strike team.

"If you're going up against Razan you'll need Psychic support," Starlight said. "I'd like to go on the first strike team."

"Then I'll go on that one as well," Eclipse said. At Starlight's curious glance he continued. "You haven't helped me with my problem yet. I have to make sure you survive."

"I'm going on a strike team as well," Zyra said. "Sounds fun."

"Put her on the second one," Preston suggested. Kai did so.

"I'll go on the Wolf rescue team," Christina said. "I'd like to see Mira again."

"Put me down for that too," Pecha said. "I know I'm not very good at fighting, but that I might be able to help with."

"I'll join that team too," Nami said.

"That's enough people for that team," Preston said. "We don't want it to get too large."

"I'm obviously on the hacker team," River said.

"Me too," Christopher agreed.

"I want to be on that one as well," Volke said.

"Uh, you do?" Kai asked, stopping before she wrote his name down.

"You need someone who can fight with you," he said.

"I can fight," River said.

"Not while you're hacking," Volke countered.

River shrugged. "It'll be nice to have you there anyway." Kai still looked a bit confused, but she wrote Volke's name down on the awesome hacker team.

"Sky and I will join a strike team," Lucinda said. Kai put them on strike team two.

"I want to be on the strike team," Nevin said. "The second one."

"You're still hurt," Kai said. "Are you going to be okay?"

"You might put others in danger," Preston added.

"Scarlet healed me," Nevin insisted. "I want to go."

"I'll be there to beat everyone before they get anywhere near you guys," Sky said. "He won't be in any danger."

"I'll catch any Sky misses," Lucinda agreed.

"Well, alright then." Kai put Nevin on the second strike team. "That's everyone. Except for Yunyi who is not going." Yunyi nodded nervously.

"What about me? Can I be on the hacker team?" Shaw asked.

"You're staying here," Preston said. "I'll get one of the other Guardians to keep an eye on you." Shaw pouted.

Kai moved away from the board so the others could see it. It looked like this:

**Advance team** \- Liliana, Blake

**Strike team 1 **\- Preston, Scarlet, Starlight, Eclipse

**Strike team 2** \- Wyvrn, Gina, Zyra, Nevin, Lucinda, Sky

**Wolf rescue Team** \- Kirtus, Christina, Pecha, Nami

**Awesome Hacker team** \- Kai, River, Christopher, Volke

"This look good?" Kai asked.

Preston shrugged. "I think it'll have to be," he said.

"We're going to take them down!" Kai exclaimed.

"I'm excited," Zyra said. "Maybe I'll see that Alex guy again. I want to hit him some more."

"I'd rather not see him again," Nevin said.

"He didn't go in your friendship journal?" Pecha asked.

"No," Nevin replied seriously.

"Let's put this into action, are you ready Liliana?" Preston asked.

"Oh yeah. Let's put an end to these guys!" Liliana exclaimed. Preston handed her the communicator.

* * *

**Note:**

**I know its lame the Lucinda/Sky divide lasted one chapter, but there wasn't time to spread it out more. Sorry, I should have planned that earlier. **


	38. Storming the Base

**Author's Note:**

**I hope this chapter is okay, it's probably a bit anti-climactic, I just wanted to finish this and didn't feel like writing more fight scenes... Sorry.**

* * *

Chapter 34: Storming the Base

* * *

Liliana and Blake were standing in the field the group had decided would be their pick up point. Scarlet and Gina had cast the spell they'd come up with to prevent brainwashing, but they weren't confident it would work. With everything that happened they hadn't hat much time to work on it. Liliana and Blake were both tense as they prepared themselves to make the call. If Nature's Guardians realized who they were and who they were working for, they could end up walking (well, flying) straight into a trap. Liliana exchanged a look with Blake, who nodded, and she hit the call button on the communicator.

"Hello?" the voice on the other end said.

"I need an extraction," Liliana replied. "Code 3871." This was Liliana's code, which was a gamble, but it shouldn't have been deactivated. She hadn't actually been gone for all that long yet.

There was a long pause and Liliana twitched nervously. "Acknowledged," the voice said. "Please state your location so we can pick you up."

Liliana let out a silent sigh of relief and quickly rattled off their position. "A Fearow will be down soon to pick you up."

"Thanks," Liliana said before closing the channel. Blake had his phone out and was texting their success to Preston. "Well, this will be interesting," Liliana commented.

"We can finally bring them down," Blake said, looking at the sky wistfully. "I was trapped there for so long, this doesn't quite feel real."

"I know what you mean," Liliana agreed, memories of the fear she'd felt trapped on the base swirling around her mind. "I hope we can help everyone who's trapped up there." Terra's kind face flashed in her mind.

"We will," Blake assured.

The Fearow swooped down to hover in front of them and Liliana grabbed one of its legs while Blake grabbed the other. Liliana quickly sent out her Hydreigon, Kuro, to carry Ren and Percy because there was no way the Fearow was carrying the Pokémon as well as two humans.

They headed up and Liliana had to focus on keeping her breathing even. Seeing this, heading back to this place, it was bringing back the memories leading up to her brainwashing. She still couldn't remember anything that had happened while she was brainwashed and she wasn't sure whether to be grateful or not. She didn't remember having absolutely no control over her body, but she also had absolutely no idea what she had done during that time. She shuddered. It wasn't happening to her again.

_No. It won't happen again, _Percy agreed sounding fierce. _Anyone tries and I'll take them down. _

_Thanks Percy, _Liliana said to her overprotective Pokémon. She really did love him. The other half of her soul, her perfect partner. She sent a wave of affection towards him which the Samurott returned. The Fearow flew up high, bursting up above the clouds. From here Liliana could see the hulking mass of the Nature's Guardian base.

_There it is, _she murmured.

_I still don't like being this high above the ground, _Percy grumbled.

_Don't worry. We're bringing that thing down, _Liliana assured.

_We just need to make sure it doesn't hit a town or something, _Percy said.

They quickly reached the base and were dropped by the Fearow onto the concrete foundation of the headquarters. Kuro landed as well, depositing Percy and Ren onto the concrete. Liliana returned Kuro and tried to act natural as they were approached by a couple members.

"Liliana!" greeted one of them. It was Terra.

"Terra," Liliana returned. She'd forgotten how creepy happy the brainwashed people were.

"I haven't seen you in a while," Terra said, her head tilting to the side in a mechanical fashion.

"Long mission," Liliana replied.

"Doing what?" asked the man with Terra. He didn't appear to be brainwashed. Liliana really had no idea if that made him more or less dangerous than Terra.

"Recruiting," Blake covered. "We failed." The man gave him a hard look, but evidently didn't see anything wrong.

"We haven't been getting as many recruits lately," the man said. "You're cleared. Go on."

Liliana and Blake quickly retreated and once they were out of earshot Liliana let out a long breath. "We made it," she said quietly.

Blake nodded with a quick grin. "Time to open the gates."

_There aren't any gates, _Percy pointed out.

_He meant metaphorical gates, _Liliana explained. "Where do you think the controls are?" Liliana asked.

"I don't know. Maybe we should ask Terra," Blake suggested.

"She's hanging out with the non-brainwashed guy," Liliana countered. "We should try to find those creepy twins!"

"Opal and Onyx," The both finished together.

"You know them?" Liliana asked.

"Yeah," Blake replied. "They're really strange."

"So weird! Like even weirder than brainwashed Terra over there! I assume they're brainwashed too, but they're even for brainwashed people they're weird."

"Where do you think they'd be?" Blake wondered.

"Uh, no idea," Liliana admitted. "I ran into them at the potato room once."

"I suppose we can try going there." Liliana shrugged, but didn't have any better ideas. As luck would have it, they ran into the creepy twins on the way there.

"Hello Liliana, Blake," They said in unison.

_Makes it sound like my last name is Blake, _Liliana muttered. "Hi there," Liliana said, masking her unease in an aura of haughtiness.

"We were looking for the barrier control room," Blake said.

"The barrier control room? That's over there in the purple building," Opal replied. Liliana was thankful once again that the brainwashing seemed to make people completely trusting idiots.

"Where in the purple building?" Liliana asked. She'd been in the purple building and she'd never seen any tech.

"In the basement. We must be going," Onyx said. The twins walked off in unison and Liliana shook her head. They were just so _weird_.

"I didn't know the purple room had a basement," Liliana mused.

"We're on a floating rock, it can't be too deep so it shouldn't be too hard to find," Blake commented.

"Good point," Liliana said. The two made their way to the purple building, doing their best to seem innocent. _You're going to have to wait out here, _Liliana said to Percy. She could feel his reluctance. _You'll draw way too much attention in there. _Percy reluctantly agreed, but she could feel him sulking at the back of her mind.

Liliana, Blake and Ren entered the purple building and began walking down the halls. Liliana thought back to their map and remembered it being a building full of dorm rooms. The map had ended up with a bunch of speculation about whose room was whose and who may or may not be dating. (Liliana was still adamant that the nervous guy named Tim was dating the lunch lady. Blake disagrees).

They walked a full circle around the building and found nothing. "What do you think?" Liliana asked. "Smash a hole in the ground?"

"That would draw attention," Blake replied, even though it was clear Liliana had been joking. For the most part anyway.

_I think I may have found it, _Percy said. He showed her an image of what he was seeing. He had decided to walk around the building and had found a door hidden under a pile of tarps and random materials.

"Percy found something," Liliana said. "Come on."

Liliana led the way outside and they found Percy sitting by the pile of tarps Liliana had seen through his eyes. She glanced around quickly to see if anyone was around, then quickly shoved the tarps out of the way. Blake helped and they soon had uncovered a trap door. Blake opened it and Liliana jumped in. _Keep watch! _She told Percy.

_Of course, _Percy replied.

It was dark inside, especially so once the trap door closed. Blake created a small flame to illuminate the area which allowed Liliana to find the light switch and flick it on. Blake released his flame as the lights flickered to life, bringing the computers into focus. "Kai's going to want to see these," Liliana murmured.

"Let's see if these are labeled," Blake mused.

"Here!" Liliana exclaimed after a few minutes of searching. There was a machine with a helpful label reading 'Barrier Control.' Liliana examined the buttons, then pushed the glowing one hoping that would be the right decision. It made a loud beeping sound which made Blake flinch and text appeared on the screen above the button.

The words that appeared read: 'Open Barrier?' Liliana pressed the _yes_ button. The words now read, 'Opening Barrier.'

"Think we did it?" Liliana asked.

"I guess we'll find out soon enough," Blake replied. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Preston to start the attack. "We should leave before they find us in here," Blake said when he was done.

Liliana nodded and walked back to the trapdoor. She pushed it open and pulled herself out, reminding Blake to turn the lights out before he followed. Percy informed her that nothing had happened as they resealed the trapdoor and carefully moved the tarps back over it.

"What are you doing?" Liliana jolted and turned slowly to see Terra.

"Uh, nothing," Liliana replied.

"I should tell Razan," Terra said robotically. Blake quickly grabbed the girl's arm.

"That's a bad idea," Blake said and gave Liliana a panicked look.

"Right, that's a bad idea. Because, uh." Liliana was sure she was going to come up with something amazing, but she was saved from having to do that by the abrupt arrival of strike team one.

Preston's Charizard landed while breathing flames down at the ground, followed much more sedately by Scarlet on Clarissa. Starlight and Eclipse brought up the rear, landing and returning their Charizard and Hydreigon respectively.

"Who are they?" Terra asked. Blake let the girl go investigate and grinned.

"Looks like we did it right," he said.

"Of course we did," Liliana replied.

* * *

Strike team two started off well. They all made it onto the base, but before Wyvrn could make any sort of plan Sky was running forward and disappearing into the headquarters.

"Where is she going?" Wyvrn asked.

Lucinda shrugged. "You wanted mayhem, I'm sure she'll cause some."

"Is that a problem?" Gina asked nervously.

"It's not like there's much Sky can do up here that will stop us anyway," Zyra said. "Even if she decides to work against us there are a lot more of us than her."

"She's with us," Lucinda assured.

"I could take her down alone anyway," Wyvrn said.

"Sure ya could," Zyra replied.

"I couldn't," Nevin admitted.

"Me neither," Gina agreed.

"Stop!" Someone yelled at the group. They were starting to get some attention now that people had noticed that they didn't belong. Wyvrn threw out his hand and the man who'd shouted was blasted backwards by a wave of energy.

"We're supposed to _not_ hurt people," Gina said.

"He was annoying," Wyvrn replied.

"We don't want to hurt anyone!" Nevin yelled to the crowd. "We just want the fighting to stop!" A few of the people seemed to listen, stepping away from them.

"There are more of us than you," a woman in the crowd said. "Why should we listen?"

"We're here for Razan," Wyvrn announced. "He's been brainwashing you people and bombing the city. We're here to take him down."

"Brainwashing?" a man said. "That's insane."

"It's not," Gina replied. The rest of Gina's explanation was cut off by a Manectric leaping at them, electricity sparking along its body. The Manectric was blocked by Zyra's Crandidos who appeared in front of Gina.

The Manectric opened the flood gates and after that Gina had a hard time telling what was happening. Some of the Nature's Guardians were staying back, apparently conflicted, but several others were attacking. Nevin and Typhlosion were only attacking the ones who got too close which Gina was thankful for. Despite what he said, he hadn't recovered all the way yet. Gina was staying near Nevin herself as she had no Pokémon and her magic wasn't skilled enough to fight at the level of Zyra or Wyvrn. She was able to use her powers to heal her friends or their Pokémon as they fought which she hoped was helping. Lucinda quickly vanished into the fray, her Pokémon skillfully taking down attackers.

It was complete chaos, but their side seemed to be winning, or at least, not losing. They were holding up pretty well when a Braviary landed next to her, startling her. It made another leap, jumping for Zyra. It was cut off by Zyra's Teddiursa.

"Erika!" one of the Nature's Guardians exclaimed. This was echoed by some of the others and Gina realized they were talking to a serious looking brown haired woman.

Wyvrn focused on her as well and sent a wave of psychic energy at the woman who neatly dodged it, her form seeming to be one with the air itself. Darkfire came around and attacked from the woman's other side, she dodged this as well.

She dodged the attacks at her while she seemed to be taking in the situation. When Darkfire and Wyvrn attacked at the same time, she used a blast of air to blow them back. Then she yelled out, "Stand down! We can't win this." She gestured to the Braviary and was whisked away by the flying Pokémon.

"What was that?" Zyra demanded.

Gina opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly felt herself becoming very tired. Confused, she fell to her knees and noticed those around her doing the same. She collapsed next to Nevin.

* * *

Sky had gotten a look at the rough map the Guardian Force had of the base and one thing on there had especially interested her. The room labelled, 'bomb supplies.' Sky didn't feel like hanging around with Guardian Force losers. They'd probably object to her blowing things up.

_What are we going to blow up? _Locke asked as they made their way to the red building.

Sky shrugged. _I don't know, but it's going to be fun! _The red building was easy enough to find, since it was, you know, red. The ruckus the Guardian Force was causing meant that it was empty as well. Sky walked inside and searched around for the room with bomb parts and quickly found it.

"Hello bombs," Sky said. She began gathering the pieces as Locke stood watch. _We don't want to blow up anything important, falling off of this thing is not something I want to do. _Sky took the bomb pieces and headed up the stairs to the top floor of the building. She grinned, set the timer and jumped out the window, Locke following closely behind. She landed gracefully on her feet, despite the not insignificant distance she fell and walked away from the building as its roof exploded. _I bet that looked awesome, _Sky commented.

_We always look awesome, _Locke agreed.

_Let's go see what Lucinda's up to. _The two walked past the crowd that was suddenly rushing towards the building rushing to put the fire out.

* * *

_I've had enough of this, _Wolf decided. He now knew what had happened to him, who he really was. Which was the same person he'd always been. He couldn't help but look at Razan in a different light, but he could mull over his memories later. For now, Razan was the enemy.

_We getting out? _Silvia asked.

_Is there any chance you can get yourself out? _Wolf asked.

_Not without anyone noticing. We're in a box. It's uncomfortable. _

_Alright, stay there for now. I'll see what I can do. _

Wolf stood, startling Mira who had been dozing off. "What are you doing?" She asked, her eyes going wide.

"I'll get us out of here," he assured her.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, pulling herself up into a sitting position.

Wolf shot her a blinding grin. "This!" He reached for Silvia's fairy powers and smashed through the bar. The same move Erika had stopped before. Xero's reflexes weren't as good as the woman's and he didn't stop Wolf in time. However he did immediately jump out of the chair to stop Wolf from moving forward. His Aegislash jumped forward to push Wolf backwards. Wolf shot back at it with a surge of fairy power. The blast distracted it enough for Wolf to grab Mira's hand and pull her through the hole he'd made in the cage.

Xero shot forward, his arms glistening silver as he drew on the power of Steel from his partner. Mira threw her hands out towards him and he was pushed back by an invisible force. Wolf kept running. A flash of red and a Togekiss appeared to block the way. The Aegislash had long since recovered and was at their backs now.

Mira clutched at his arm, panicking he thought, but then the scene changed around them and they were in an empty room. "What just happened?" Wolf asked warily, looking around for the enemy.

Mira was mostly hanging off of him now, completely exhausted. "Kira… Kira knows Teleport," Mira gasped. "It's very hard to use."

"And I imagine the range isn't great," Wolf surmised. He pulled one of her arms around his shoulders and wrapped an arm around her to help support her. "How come you didn't mention being able to do that earlier?" Wolf wondered.

"I've never done it before," Mira replied. "I didn't think it would work." Wolf dragged Mira to a chair and sat her down in it. Then he walked to the window to see if he could find out where they were. They were on a flying slab of concrete, which was weird. It also ensured they would have a hard time escaping. Since he'd been unconscious the whole way there he had no idea which of the buildings around were which or if they were even in the same building as the cells were or not. There were a lot of people running around outside, so Wolf backed away. It would be best not to be seen.

"Getting away from here is going to be tricky," Wolf mused. "Unless you have a flying Pokémon?" Mira shook her head apologetically.

"I have a Togectic, but I gave it to Kirtus to keep it safe."

"Well a Togectic wouldn't have been able to carry all of us anyway," Wolf said. "In that case, we're going to have to steal one of their flying Pokémon."

"Won't those be heavily guarded?" Mira asked.

"Well. Maybe, it depends on if they hear we escaped or not."

"We need to get Kira and Silvia back too."

"Yeah, that's the first thing on the agenda. It feels like Silvia is over that way." Wolf pointed in the direction he felt Silvia's thoughts from.

Mira nodded. "That's where Kira's thoughts are coming from. But Kira says that there are a lot of people near where she is. She doesn't think we can get to them undetected."

"Well, we don't have to. We just have to blend in!"

"But we know nothing about Nature's Guardians," Mira pointed out. The sudden explosion took them both by surprise and Mira ended up clinging onto Wolf's arm. "What's going on?" she asked nervously.

Wolf looked out the window and saw flames, but couldn't tell where they were coming from. "I don't know," he replied. "It's a distraction though, so let's take it." He led the way out to the door and he carefully looked both ways before walking into the hallway. So far it was empty, but he wasn't sure where they were yet. Hopefully it wasn't an area people went to when the place was under attack.

Wolf had just located the stairwell door when it came flying open. Wolf pushed Mira behind him and instinctively reached for Silvia's powers.

He stopped his strike when he realized it wasn't an enemy. "Found him!" Pecha exclaimed, leaving the stairwell and letting Nami, Kirtus and Christina through. Kirtus was holding a small device which he dropped when he saw Wolf and Mira. Kirtus walked over to Mira and bowed his head contritely.

"I'm so sorry," he said.

"It's okay," Mira said. "I knew it could be dangerous."

Pecha was very clearly confused. "What's he apologizing for?" She wondered.

"He had her get captured with a tracker planted on her so he could track her back to Wolf," Nami explained.

"Oh."

"Had no one told you?" Christina wondered.

Pecha shrugged. "I was running around a lot. I missed some stuff."

"And you found me anyway," Mira said to Kirtus. "I'm never playing bait again though. Never again."

"I won't ever ask again. Of anyone," Kirtus promised. "I'm not suited for Guardian Force work."

"What was that explosion anyway?" Wolf wondered.

"With all the people here? My bet would be either Wyvrn or Sky," Pecha said. "Or Eclipse or Volke. Or," Nami cut her off.

"We came straight for you so we're not really sure what's going on out there," Nami explained.

"We still need to get Kira and Silvia," Mira said.

"Where are they?" Pecha asked.

"That way," Wolf said, pointing to where he felt Silvia.

"Let's go find them," Christina said. The group walked out the building without any resistance. They had run into a few people, but they were ignored.

Outside was a lot more chaotic as Nature's Guardians tried to repel the Guardian Force. Wolf and the others skirted past these confrontations to get to the box where Silvia and Kira were stuck. Christina was nervously clutching a Poké Ball.

Luckily, there was so much going on outside the group was able to pass by unopposed. Less fortunately, Xero was standing beside the box holding Silvia and Kira. He turned to them as they got close. "I knew you'd come here," he said, his voice cold.

"Who're you?" Pecha asked.

"My name isn't important," Xero replied.

"That's Xero," Wolf supplied. Xero glared at him and Wolf gave him a friendly smile.

"You're not getting your partners back," Xero said.

_Oh really? _Wolf wondered.

_We'll show him, huh? _Silvia replied. The lid to the box suddenly strained and broke, releasing Silvia and a blaze of pale pink fairy energy. Kira followed the Sylveon.

Xero released two Pokémon, a Gabite and a Togekiss.

"You don't actually think you can win, do you?" Pecha said. "Even if your Pokémon are amazing there are just more of us."

"I think your Pokémon don't stand a chance." There was an incredible surge of energy as Zap, Yuki, Silvia and Kira all attacked at the same moment. Once the cloud of different energies and dust had settled, Xero was nowhere to be seen.

"You didn't kill him…did you?" Christina asked nervously.

"If he were dead there'd be a body," Pecha replied.

"He probably had one of his Pokémon use Protect and ran off," Wolf theorized.

"What was the point of that then?" Christina wondered. "Seemed pretty pointless." Wolf shrugged.

"I think he was only expecting Wolf and Mira but didn't want to look like a coward and run away when they showed up with all of us," Pecha said.

"What should we do now?" Mira asked.

"Our job was just to get you out, everything else if covered," Pecha said with a shrug.

"We could go see if the others need help," Nami suggested.

"Yeah, I imagine finding them won't be hard," Wolf mused. "Follow the destruction right?" So the group headed for the center of the chaos.

* * *

Kai clung to River who glanced back at her in concern. "Are you alright?" River asked.

"Fine," Kai said, though her pale face disagreed. "I'm just - just."

"Just what?" Volke demanded.

"Terrified of heights!"

"You're scared of heights?" Christopher said. "Well this isn't a great place for you then."

"No it isn't," Kai snapped.

"Don't worry, it's stable," River assured, patting her friends arm reassuringly.

"I know, I'll be fine," Kai said. "Just, maybe, a bit jumpier than normal."

"We need to find the computers," River said. "Liliana and Blake didn't label them on their map."

"So everything that's on the map can be discounted," Volke pointed out.

"That still leaves a lot of ground to cover," River sighed.

"We could split up?" Christopher suggested.

"_You_ could go," Volke suggested, a suddenly too friendly smile on his face.

"We're not splitting up," River corrected. "That would be a bad idea." Volke sighed somewhat.

_I found them! _Mist suddenly exclaimed River hadn't noticed her partner disappear, but apparently Mist had been searching the whole time.

"Mist found something," River said.

"Let's go!" Kai exclaimed. "Then we can get onto the ground again!" She charged forward after the ghost and the others were forced to run to keep up with her. Mist led the group to Blake and Liliana who were watching the fighting, clearly not sure if they should jump in or not.

"Hey guys," Kai greeted.

"Oh! You're here!" Liliana exclaimed. "The computers are through there. Or some of them are anyway." She pointed to a pile of tarps.

"They're through a pile of tarps?" Christopher asked dubiously.

"The tarps are covering a trap door," Blake explained.

Kai walked over and began moving them. Vieara helped, though her claws ended up just shredding most of it. Soon they had the door uncovered and Kai opened it, vanishing into the cellar.

"It's really dark in there," Blake warned.

River jumped down after Kai and found that Blake wasn't exaggerating. She couldn't even see her hand in front of her face. That was easily rectified though, she reached out to Mist and looked through the ghost's eyes. Mist's vision wasn't effected by the darkness and River was soon able to see Kai stumbling around and running her hands over the walls looking for a light switch.

River easily located it and flicked the lights on as Volke and Christopher came down. Kai made a sound of excitement as the computers became visible and ran towards them. She began typing away at one of the consoles and River walked over to another one.

"This one seems to be communications," Kai said. Christopher walked to the labeled screens and examined them while Volke stood watch by the door entrance.

River hacked into her console and began reading through the controls. "I think this is the one," she said. "This looks like it controls the levitation engines."

"We can get it on the ground?" Kai asked, her excitement tinged with desperation.

"I think so. I just need a minute to understand this." River read through the controls as quickly as possible. If she took too long, Kai would probably panic and try to take over. The system was always active and mostly traveled with the wind. This conserved power and helped keep the base in the air as well. It did have engines that would alter the flight path, but River didn't see a need to use them. The base had been over an empty area before and should still be there. As long as she made a slow landing they'd be able to make sure they didn't hit anything.

She typed in a command which began to slowly lower the base to the ground. It would take quite a while for them to actually land, but it was best not to rush the process.

"Are we going down yet?" Kai asked.

"Yes," River replied. "But it's going to take the better part of an hour to reach the ground."

"An _hour?_" Kai repeated desperately. She collapsed forward dramatically.

"You'll be fine," Christopher assured, somewhat condescendingly.

"You don't know that," Kai muttered.

"Is that all you needed to do?" Volke asked.

"I think so," River replied. She checked over her work, but it appeared to have been successful.

"Does anyone have a flying Pokémon I can hug until we get down?" Kai asked, her voice muffled by the table it was pressed into.

"I have a Togekiss," River offered. She sent out the Pokémon and it sat beside Kai.

Kai perked up. "Thanks!" she said, grabbing hold of the Togekiss desperately. The Pokémon looked uncomfortable, but put up with it.

"Is this all we have to do?" Volke asked.

"We just need to stay here and make sure they don't override the computers," River replied.

"They have cameras," Christopher said, clicking around on one of the consoles. The large screen in the middle changed to display the outside. Preston was visible, his Charizard fighting with someone. Clarissa was there as well, flying around and attacking those getting to close.

A lot of the Nature's Guardians seemed very confused and weren't fighting. Plenty were, but River couldn't tell from a glance which section was larger. The four of them watched the screen anxiously.

* * *

Preston landed amongst a gush of flame his Charizard spewed out. Screams and shouts of alarm immediately filled the air and people began running. Scarlet, Starlight and Eclipse landed behind him. A huge wave of dark energy shot out, marring the ground and searing the air.

"What was that?" Scarlet said, her tone unnerved. Preston turned to see Eclipse replacing his eyepatch.

"A power I have," Eclipse replied vaguely.

"We need to find Razan," Preston said.

"I think he's going to find us," Scarlet said, pointing out an angry figure heading towards them. Preston moved towards Razan, but the others were waylaid by other members of Nature's Guardians. Clarissa and Scarlet fought, Scarlet using her magic to assist her. Starlight and Eclipse both battled as well, sending out their other Pokémon as needed. Eclipse was hampered in his fighting as they didn't want to permanently hurt anyone and the power from his eye certainly would.

Preston managed to get thorough the crowd to Razan, though he had to send out his Venasaur to distract an attacker.

A black-haired man Preston recognized from the poster as Razan stood before him. "Razan," Preston said.

"I'm afraid I don't know your name," Razan replied. He didn't seem particularly concerned that they were being attacked.

"Preston," Preston replied. "You're under arrest."

Razan gave him a quizzical look. "You're going to arrest me? I thought you city people just killed the people you disagreed with."

"Isn't that what you do as well?" Preston countered.

"Some sacrifices are necessary. If I didn't plant that bomb we would have continued to be ignored." The conversation was rather odd, held as it was amongst various fighting people and Pokémon.

"Tell your people to stand down," Preston demanded.

Razan looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head. "Did you truly think it would be that easy?"

"Of course not," Preston said grimly. He lifted his right hand and the keystone in his glove glowed. His Charizard was encased in a rainbow light and emerged as a Charizard X.

Rather than using his Hypno, Razan sent out a Sableye. The Sableye and Preston's Charizard clashed in a wave of furious energy. It was hard to follow, especially with all the other fighters involved. A sudden stream of darkness flowed towards Razan.

Razan held out a hand, creating a barrier which the stream of darkness hit and flowed around. Holding the barrier was clearly tiring Razan out and he began making a pained expression. He turned to Eclipse who had recovered his eye.

"You're a strange one," Razan hissed.

"I know," Eclipse replied. Razan glared and a purplish aura surrounded him as he gathered energy. "You can't win," Eclipse said.

"I can," Razan countered. He launched a wave of psychic power towards Eclipse. It wasn't a physical wave this time, it was mental, something which Eclipse, even with his strange power, couldn't stop. But before it could hit him, Starlight stepped in the way, extending a mental barrier in front of her.

The moment Razan's wave hit Starlight's barrier, there was a huge reaction. Eclipse would have called it an explosion, except that the explosion was completely mental. It exploded outwards washing over everyone on the base. As it washed over Eclipse, he felt it pull him down into the depths of his mind. He fell, watching as Starlight collapsed next to him.

The purple wave of energy expanded outwards rapidly, covering the whole base. As it passed over people and Pokémon, they would fall to the ground, unconscious. Once the whole base had been enveloped, the field expanded a few more feet, then dissipated. The base was silent. Everyone upon it trapped in their own minds.


	39. Visions of the Past

**Author's Note:**

**This is another weird chapter, I originally wrote these for fun, but when I had half the cast done I figured I might as well do the rest and actually make it a part of the story. I hope they're not too weird and they're at least kind of interesting. Hope you enjoy!**

**You might want to get comfortable and grab a snack, this is a long one. **

* * *

Chapter 35: Visions of the Past

* * *

Starlight woke, finding herself staring at the bare ceiling. She yawned and stretched, sitting up and looking around her room. It was the same as it always was.

"Starlight! Starlight!" Two small voices called. Starlight blinked at the shout, then smiled at her younger twin siblings.

"Good morning Luna, Sunny," Starlight said. She pushed herself off the bed and hugged the twins.

"Did you get your sister up?" Her father called from the kitchen.

"I'm up dad!" Starlight assured with a laugh. Sunny and Luna both grinned and ran back downstairs. Starlight watched them fondly and followed them at a more sedate pace.

As she walked down the stairs and he mind became fully awake, a sense of unease fell over her. It was as if something just wasn't quite right. She looked around, but everything was as it should be. Shrugging, she pushed the feeling away and walked to where her Kirlia was waiting. _Good morning, Kirlia_, Starlight greeted. She'd almost called her Gardevoir for some reason, wishful thinking maybe?

_Good morning_, Kirlia replied. _Does something seem...off to you_? The psychic type asked uncertainly.

Starlight shrugged. _Nothing seems wrong_, she pointed out. Kirlia nodded her head in agreement though both clearly shared the uneasy feeling.

"Starlight!" Her father called. Exchanging one last look with Kirlia, Starlight walked through the door to the living room.

She walked into the warm living room where the twins were sitting at the table, playing some sort of game only they knew the rules to. Millennium walked over to the table and put dishes in front of them.

"Thanks Millennium!" The twins said in unison.

"You're welcome," Millennium said with a smile.

"Good morning Millennium," Starlight said. Upon seeing Millennium, the bad feelings had intensified. The name Altair popped into her head, but she couldn't understand why.

_Something isn't right here_, Kirlia said. _This isn't right. _

_Then what's going on? Nothing seems wrong!_

"Starlight, are you okay?" Millennium asked.

"Fine," Starlight said with the most convincing smile she could muster. "I'm going out."

"But you haven't eaten anything yet," her father protested.

"Not hungry, see you later!" Starlight ran outside and towards the forest where she could be alone. All the people around were confusing her. She slowed to a stop on the outskirts of town and turned to Kirlia.

_What do you think is going on?_

_I'm not sure_, Kirlia replied. I _feel smaller. Like I should have evolved already. _

_I almost called you Gardevoir earlier_, Starlight agreed. She looked down at the ground and saw the dirt and the small shoots of grass pushing their way to the surface. It looked real, but Starlight wasn't sure that it was. She focused on the dirt and the grass and tried to look beyond it, to reality. Kirlia - no Gardevoir - joined her efforts with Starlight and the dirt and grass faded, along with everything else. It all faded to a myriad of swirling colors.

_That was a memory_, Starlight said. _I've never been stuck in my mind like that before. _

_It must have been the psychic backlash_, Gardevoir guessed, back in her true form. _Whatever Razan tried to do seemed to react to your shield and possibly the spell Scarlet and Gina case. I've never felt anything like that before._

_Do you think the others are stuck too_? Starlight wondered anxiously. Starlight was able to break free, but the others would have more trouble, not being Psychic Pokésouls.

Gardevoir gave a non-committal sound. Starlight stood in the swirling ether of psychic energy and had to make a decision. She could go back to her body now, or she could keep going, try to find the others. There was a danger to that though, it left her actual body vulnerable, and it was all too easy to get lost in the psychic plane, even for someone as skilled at psychic powers as her. She stared into the abyss, then back at the light of her body. She took a deep breath, and headed forward into the abyss. Her friends needed her, she was sure of it.

* * *

The burning flames scorched the air and filled her lungs, leaving her breathless. She coughed, trying to clear the smoke, but it just returned with the next breath. There was a tug on her leg, pulling her towards the forest, but she didn't want to leave. She couldn't go. She couldn't leave them.

_We have to go_, the voice insisted in her mind.

_They'll die_! The girl yelled mentally.

_You can't save them, but you can save yourself_, the voice insisted. The girl looked down and saw the Umbreon pulling on her pant leg. _Darkfire_, she remembered. That's her name. The girl's own name escaped her at the moment. It wasn't important anyway.

_Think Zyra_! Darkfire yelled. _We have to go! _Zyra, was that her name? The girl wasn't sure, but it felt right somehow. A sharp tug on her leg pulled her off balance and Zyra fell. Darkfire continued pulling and Zyra finally went along, feeling too weak to resist. The two stumbled into the forest and Zyra fell again, this time not getting back up.

Her breath was ragged and she could still feel the smoke. She wasn't sure how long she laid there, Darkfire at her side.

"Zyra," a gentle voice said. Zyra ignored it. It couldn't be a human. Everyone was dead. Her parents, her friends, they were all gone.

"Zyra!" The voice said more insistently. Zyra looked up lazily and found a tall woman with long black hair looking down at her.

"Who are you?" Zyra asked, her voice rough from the smoke.

"I'm Starlight. We know each other," the woman said.

"No we don't," Zyra asserted. "Everyone I know is dead now."

"We do," Starlight insisted. "This is your past. This has already happened. You're not actually here."

"It feels real," Zyra pointed out.

"Of course it does, you lived through it and you remember how it felt. But it isn't real now. Take my hand." Starlight held out her hand to Zyra. Zyra looked at it.

_I believe her_, Darkfire said finally. _None of this feels quite right_. Zyra wasn't sure herself, but if Darkfire believed it, then so would Zyra. It's not like she wanted to stay there anyway. She reached out her hand and the forest turned bright and vanished, leaving Zyra in a dome of swirling colors. Zyra's memories abruptly returned, sealing her horrid past behind the healing powers of time. "Starlight?" Zyra said. "What happened? What was that?"

"Whatever Razan did trapped all of us in some sort of psychic backlash," Starlight explained. "I've never experienced this kind before. Look there." Zyra turned to see a glowing, warm light. "That's the way back to your body. Go on," Starlight gently pushed her.

"You're not going?" Zyra asked.

"There are still others trapped, I need to help them," Starlight said.

"If Nevin's trapped in here then I want to help him," Zyra refuted. "I need to help him."

Starlight looked like she was going to disagree, but said, "Only Nevin. You leave after that."

Zyra nodded.

* * *

Mira danced, the movements coming to her as naturally as breathing. Spin, step, spin again, leap. It was so freeing. However, she didn't have the complete feeling of peace she normally had when dancing. Something felt off.

_Is there something wrong? _She asked Kira.

_I don't know, _Kira replied. _Something seems wrong, but I'm not sure what. _

Mira continued her dance. She looked out at the audience and it occurred to her that she wasn't sure where she was or why she was dancing. Losing herself in the movement was nothing new, but not knowing what she was dancing was. Abruptly, she stopped. The other dancers continued, ignoring her completely. So did the audience.

_Ah, _Mira realized. _This is a memory. _It was much more vivid than the ones she'd visited with Wolf. A product of not knowing what was happening probably. Now that she knew what it was, dispelling it was easy. She and Kira left the past and found themselves on the psychic plane. _This is strange, _Mira commented.

_A massive psychic event must have happened, _Kira replied. Mira nodded. The psychic plane was rarely a place people could visit, but here it was so strong Mira could feel the other minds connected to it. It was actually possible to walk between people's minds here. Normally physical contact was required to look this far into someone's mind and even then it was difficult. Whatever had happened here was so strong it had completely removed that constraint.

_This is dangerous,_ Mira murmured. _It would be very easy to get lost here. _

_We shouldn't linger, _Kira agreed.

_But Wolf might still be here, _Mira said. _We should at least make sure he's okay. _Wolf had been next to her when they passed out, so his mind should be close to hers. She found it easily and jumped into his mind.

Wolf was stuck in a memory as well. Mira recognized it as one of his missing ones as he was walking with Razan and Erika.

"What do you want to eat?" Erika was asking.

"I want a berry sandwich!" Wolf exclaimed.

"It looks like there's a café there," Razan said, pointing at a quaint building. The trio walked that way. Mira followed. In Wolf's memories, Razan and Erika seemed like nice people. It made Mira sad, and a bit scared, that people like that could turn into the people they were today.

"Wolf," Mira said when Razan and Erika had left to order. Wolf looked at her and grinned.

"Hi there!" he said. "You're pretty!"

Mira blushed. "Uh, thanks," She stammered. "Er, anyway, this isn't real!" she exclaimed.

Wolf cocked his head at her curiously. "What do you mean?" he asked. Silvia jumped up on the table and gave her a look as well.

"This is a memory," Mira explained. "Something happened and you ended up stuck in a memory. I'm here to get you out."

"What happened?" Wolf wondered.

"I'm not sure," Mira replied. "We were fighting against a psychic Pokésoul."

"Razan's a psychic Pokésoul!" Wolf said.

"Uh, yeah," Mira said uncomfortably. "Come on, we can get out of here." She held out a hand to him. Wolf shrugged and took her hand. Mira pulled them out of the memory and they were back on the psychic plane and she was holding the current Wolf's hand. She blushed again and let go.

"What's this place?" Wolf wondered, looking around the swirling vortex in interest.

"The psychic plane," Mira replied. "As far as I know no one's ever actually seen it like this before. It's generally something you know is there but can't see. Whatever happened must have been an intense psychic event."

"How do we get out?" Wolf asked. "Is everyone else in here?"

"I think I can get us out. I don't know who else is here. More than just us, but if I was able to get myself out Starlight and Wyvrn were probably able to as well."

"Shouldn't we go out and help people?" Wolf asked. "We can't just leave them stuck here."

"It's not safe to wander this plane," Mira replied. "It would be safer to wake up and try to bring them back from the physical plane."

"I'm sensing a 'but,'" Wolf said.

"It's slower to free them from out there and the longer they're in here the lower the chances of them waking up."

"We should help from here then," Wolf said.

"I can send you back," Mira offered.

"No, we're in this together." Wolf gave her another bright grin and Mira returned it, though hers was tinged with fright. They walked into the vortex hand in hand.

* * *

Pecha stared at the ceiling. This was common for her. It was a boring ceiling. Plain wood with nothing of interest on it to study whatsoever. Zap lay on the floor next to her.

_This is boring_, Pecha said.

_Yep_, Zap agreed.

Pecha continued staring at the ceiling, feeling the pointlessness of her existence. _There has to be something else we can do_, Pecha said. _There has to. _

_What do you want to do_? Zap asked.

_I want to just, go. Get out of here. _

_I don't know if we're ready for that. _

_I feel ready. I actually feel more than ready, like I've already done this_, Pecha mused.

Zap tilted her head and replied, _Actually, I feel a bit like that as well_.

The two stared at each other, shrugged and let the house.

"So, which way?" Pecha asked.

Zap began walking and Pecha followed.

The two walked into the wilderness. The farther they went, the more unclear the environment became, as if it were a painting someone hadn't quite finished yet. "This is weird," Pecha commented.

_What is going on_? Zap wondered. As they continued, the environment finally completely dissolved leaving them in a swirling vortex of colors. The two's memories had returned as their old town faded, but that didn't help either understand what was going on.

"Okay..." Pecha said. "I really don't know what's going on now." After looking around for a few moments, they continued forward. "You think everyone else is stuck like we were?" Pecha asked.

_No idea_, Zap replied. _It's possible_. They walked forwards and the vortex gradually disappeared, turning into the streets of a city.

Pecha looked around as they walked forward. The smell of smoke reached her and she coughed. "What is that?" The answer came as they rounded a corner. In the street two cars had smashed into each other and one was smoking rather heavily. The accident was clearly a bad one and both cars were mostly mangled pieces of metal rather than vehicles.

Pecha ran over. The drivers of both cars had not survived, but there was a girl sitting on the street crying. There was an older boy next to her, a bleeding wound on his back.

"Nami?" Pecha gasped.

The boy's face wasn't visible, but it must've been Blake. Nami looked up. "They're all dead," she cried. "I'm alone now."

"I'm sorry about your parents," Pecha said, sitting in front of her friend. "But Blake is alive. Remember, we just found him again!"

Nami gave her an odd look, "I don't know you," she said. "And he's not! Look!"

Blake did look pretty bad, Pecha admitted to herself. But she knew he was alive. Now to convince Nami of that. "He is!" Pecha took Nami's hand and put it to Blake's pulse. "See, his heart is still beating."

"It - it is! So he's really, he's alive?"

"Yes, and he's going to be fine," Pecha assured.

"Who are you?" Nami asked.

"I'm Pecha. We're friends," Pecha said with a smile.

"But I don't know you," Nami stated this with certainty, then looked confused. "Do I?"

"You're trapped in some sort of memory," Pecha explained. "But we do know each other. You can feel it, can't you? That this isn't quite right, that you've done this before?"

"Maybe..."

"Come on!" Pecha said standing and holding her hand out to the girl. "Let's go and get out of this awful memory."

"I can't leave Blake," Nami said.

"It's not really him," Pecha insisted. "The real Blake is probably stuck in a memory of his own out there, and if you don't get out of this place you can't help him."

Nami looked at her brother, then at Yuki. The two stared at each other for a moment, then Nami took Pecha's hand. "Let's go."

Pecha pulled her to her feet and the two walked away from the wreckage. As they got further and further away Nami became taller and older, until she was finally back to her actual age. This matched the fading of the background, Nami returning to her normal self as they emerged into the strange vortex.

"I was trapped in a memory?" Nami wondered. "Thanks for getting me out."

"No problem," Pecha assured. "I don't know how to actually get us back to reality though. Unless this is reality, in which case I think we have a bigger problem."

"Do you think the others are stuck as well?" Nami asked.

Pecha shrugged. "Probably. I got to you by just walking around. If we go forward, we should find someone else."

"Let's go then," Nami said. The two walked forward. The colors soon began fading again as they entered someone's mind.

"Whose memory do you think this is?" Nami wondered looking around curiously. She and Pecha were not standing outside of a quaint house in the Outerlands.

"No idea," Pecha replied.

"Shall we go inside?" Nami asked.

"Might as well," Pecha replied. Pecha walked to the door and opened it, peeking around the corner. It was dark and empty in the house. "Hello?" she called out. She shrugged at Nami and walked inside.

"It looks empty," Nami murmured. It was clearly inhabited though as there was no dust and the potted plants appeared well cared for. By unspoken agreement, the two girls and their Pokémon split up to explore the house.

Nami found the kitchen which was well-stocked, but devoid of life. _Over here,_ Yuki said.

Nami went to her Pokémon and called Pecha over. Yuki was floating with her head half-through the door. She backed out when the girls arrived. _There's someone in there, _the Ghost Pokémon said.

Nami tried the door, but it was locked. "There's someone in there," she told Pecha.

"Should we break the door down?" Pecha suggested.

"Break it down!" a female voice agreed. Pecha and Nami both turned to see Zyra and Starlight show up.

"Zyra!" Pecha greeted.

"You guys got out?" Starlight said, surprised but pleased.

Pecha shrugged. "My vision was boring so I left. Then I found Nami."

"We're not sure whose dream this is," Nami said.

"Let's break the door down and find out," Zyra suggested, readying her fists.

"I've got this," Starlight said, raising her hand and flinging a wave of energy that flung the door off its hinges.

"Nice," Zyra complimented.

"Thanks." The girls all entered the room to find a small boy hiding on the bed.

"Hi there," Pecha greeted. The boy didn't respond.

Starlight walked to the bedside and knelt down. "Hi, I'm Starlight. What's your name?" she asked.

The boy sniffled and pulled the blanked further up over his head. Starlight tried coaxing him again, but was ignored.

"Forget that," Zyra said as she walked over and forcefully pulled the blankets away from the boy.

"Is that...Nevin?" Pecha wondered. He was much younger than the version she knew, and lacked the smile, but bore striking similarities.

"I think it is," Nami agreed.

"Nevin!" Zyra exclaimed. "What are you crying about?"

"Kari's gone," Nevin sniffed, seemingly unbothered by the group of strangers who knew his name.

"Kari?" Starlight wondered.

"His sister," Nami supplied.

"She died?" Starlight asked sadly.

"No, she went on a trip," Nami corrected.

"So he's crying that his sister went on a trip without him," Zyra summarized. Nami nodded. Zyra put her hands on her hips and glared at the boy. "Get up Nevin!" she exclaimed. "Kari will come back and you'll see her again! You have better things to do." Nevin lifted his head to look at her. "This is the past, people need us, need you, right now."

"This is…the past?" Nevin asked.

"Sure is," Pecha replied. "Well, your memory of the past, we haven't traveled through time or anything like that."

"Typhlosion?" he muttered.

"Where is Typhlosion?" Nami wondered.

"He may not have met him yet," Starlight said. "He should be in this memory somewhere. If we get Nevin to leave Typhlosion will come as well.

"See," Zyra said. "You need to get out to help him too." Nevin nodded, wiped his tears and stood. Zyra led the way out of the house.

"Did Kari really just leave you all alone?" Starlight asked. "You're a bit young to be living by yourself."

"Dad's out buying food," Nevin replied idly.

"Ah." The further they went from the house, the brighter Nevin's smile became and soon he was back to normal and Typhlosion had appeared at his side.

"Nice to have you back Nevin," Zyra said.

"Thanks for getting me out of there," Nevin replied.

"So, who's next?" Zyra asked.

"No one, for you," Starlight said. "I'll keep going, but you all should go back to your bodies."

"Why?" Pecha asked. "There are a lot of people still trapped here."

"I know and I'll help them," Starlight replied. "But while we're in here, our bodies are just lying there. Someone should be awake to watch over us."

"Oh, that's a good point," Nami said, eyes wide with realization. "How long have we been here?"

"I have no idea," Starlight replied apologetically. "Time passes strangely here. But I know I'll be more comfortable with you out there to keep an eye on things."

"Alright," Pecha agreed. "How do we get back?"

"I can do it," Starlight said. "Just relax and trust me." Starlight closed her eyes and slowly waved her hand through the air at them. The vortex slowly faded and Nami found herself staring at darkness. She realized that wasn't quite right, it was that her eyes were closed. She opened them and saw the sky. She looked to the side and found Pecha and Zap both waking as well. _This is real, _Nami assured herself.

_Yes it is, _Yuki agreed.

* * *

Wyvrn sat at his desk, pointedly ignoring the other children. He knew they were talking about him. They always did. His one solace was also the main cause of all of this. His second half, his bonded partner, Abra.

The other kids would whisper, talk about how strange he was, laugh at the poor quality of his clothes. Talk about his parents didn't love him. They weren't wrong. His parents just couldn't handle the strangeness of having a Pokésoul for a son.

"Hey Wyvrn," a boy jeered, walking up to Wyvrn's desk. Wyvrn ignored him. The boy was annoyed and violently shoved Wyvrn's book down onto the desk, tearing the pages.

It wasn't even his book, Wyvrn couldn't afford things like that, it was a library book. He hoped they wouldn't make him pay for the damage. He wouldn't be able to afford that.

Anger infused him and he glared at the aggressor. "You tore my book," Wyvrn growled.

"Books are cheap and stupid," the boy sneered, taking the book and tossing it to some of the other kids. They laughed and started playing catch with it. "Just like you."

The book flew over Wyvrn's head and he snapped. He lunged forward, grabbed the boy and attacked. His mind flew forward, aided by Abra, and smashed into the boy's. The boy's face went blank and he fell. Wyvrn stared in horror, then dropped him and backed away.

"What did you do?" The teacher demanded, storming over. Wyvrn just looked at her. "What did you do?" She demanded again. The other kids were backing away and Wyvrn was frozen.

As the teacher screamed at him, something occurred to Wyvrn. _This already happened_, he realized. _The boy isn't dead, he got better. _

_That's right_, Abra...no Kadabra, said encouragingly._ I remember too! And we decided not to attack people's minds anymore. And we haven't. _

_Right_, Wyvrn said. _We haven't_. He soothed himself with the fact as the classroom and the bullies slowly vanished, leaving him in the psychic plane. It wasn't a place he'd ever been before, not like this, and he looked around curiously for a moment.

_Let's get out of here_, Wyvrn said, a slight shudder going through him. He didn't like thinking about the past. He was strong now, and people couldn't hurt him like they did back then. And he wouldn't hurt anyone the way he'd hurt that boy in his class. Some lines just shouldn't be crossed.

He woke and found himself lying on the floor of the Nature's Guardians base. He sat up and found everyone around him was asleep as well. _What happened? _He wondered.

_I'm not sure, _Kadabra replied. _It seems to have effected everyone. _Wyvrn took in the sight around him and found his eyes falling on Gina. She was as asleep as everyone else, but the sight of her bothered him more. He walked to her and sat by her side. _We could help her, _Kadabra suggested gently.

_I'd have to go in her mind, _Wyvrn replied, his mind recoiling from the idea.

_To help this time, not to hurt, _Kadabra said. Wyvrn stared at the unconscious girl, overlaid with specters from his past.

_What if I hurt her on accident, _Wyvrn wondered, his mental voice full of an uncertainty he would never allow in his actual voice.

_I trust you,_ Kadabra said.

_That's not an answer, _Wyvrn rebuked, but he reached out a hand towards Gina as well. He laid a hand gently on her shoulder and carefully dipped inside her mind.

* * *

"You like magic?" the man asked her.

"I haven't used much before," Gina replied. "You like it?"

"Magic is amazing," the man replied. He regaled her with tales of the magic he used on his travels and Gina listened intently.

They fell into a companionable silence when he finished. "How is the orphanage?" the man wondered.

"It's not so bad," Gina replied. "The people who run it are nice," she said. "I'm thinking of going to the Mage's Guild though."

"The Guild is a great place," the man said. "I'm sure you'd like it there." He looked to the sky and stood suddenly. "It's getting late," he noticed. "I was having so much fun talking with you I must have forgotten the time." He laughed lightly.

Gina smiled and opened her mouth, trying to force herself to _just say it. _But she couldn't, and when she opened her mouth what came out was, "It was nice meeting you."

"You as well. Goodbye!" Gina waved at the man and wondered if she would ever see him again. Her father. She continued to sit at the table, staring at her hands. She'd gotten up the courage to talk to the man, but not to tell him the truth.

"Gina." Gina turned at her name to find a man with scary blood-red eyes and white hair looking at her.

"Yes…?" she asked nervously.

"I've come to get you out," the man said.

"Out of what?" Gina wondered. Something about the man seemed familiar, but Gina was sure she'd remember such a strange looking person.

"Out of your memories," the man replied. "My name is Wyvrn."

"Wyvrn?" Gina repeated. It seemed right somehow. "How do we get out?" She wasn't sure she really believed him, but it was worth hearing what he had to say.

Wyvrn walked towards her and Gina forced herself not to flinch. He gently touched her shoulder and Gina felt a faint pull on her mind. The past faded and she was back to her current self. They stopped briefly on a strange vortex she didn't recognize, but not for long enough to catch more than a glimpse. The next thing she knew she was waking up.

"Wyvrn?" She asked. He was sitting beside her and at his name his eyes opened.

"You're awake?" he asked brusquely. Gina nodded.

"Good. We should find the others." He walked off without seeing if she followed. Gina laid there for a few more moments to collect herself, then managed to get to her feet. She walked after Wyvrn.

* * *

Preston waited in the cave for Scarlet. He knew she would come, she'd been back every day to treat him. Sure enough, she showed up after a few minutes. He gave her a smile and said, "Fancy seeing you here."

"This is part of my charity work," Scarlet said. "Fixing up idiots who get themselves in trouble." She knelt by him and began taking the bandages off his wounds so that she could reapply them. "These are healing nicely."

Preston didn't enjoy being injured, but at least the nursing staff was first rate. He hadn't meant to get injured of course, he really hadn't expected people to attack him like that. He knew that opinions of city dwellers in the Outerlands was bad, after all he'd had to quell some unrest against the cities himself, but attacking him when he wasn't there on duty was new.

"Preston! Or Scarlet! Not sure which," an unknown voice said. Scarlet stepped in front of him protectively and Preston managed to push himself up and get a hold of a Poké Ball.

"Who are you?" Scarlet demanded. There was a boy and a girl at the entrance of the cave.

"I'm Wolf," the white-haired boy replied with a grin. "This is Mira." The girl waved nervously. "So which one's actually here?" he asked the girl.

"I…think they both are," Mira said, though her voice sounded unsure.

"Both of them? That can happen?"

"I guess so."

"Memory? What are you talking about?" Preston asked.

"How did you find this cave?" Scarlet demanded. "Did they send you?"

Wolf cocked his head to the side. "Did who send us?"

"The village!"

"I don't think so," Wolf replied.

"This isn't real," Mira said. "This is a memory that you two have become stuck in."

"A memory?" Scarlet asked.

"Then why am I in pain?" Preston asked. "If this isn't real then this shouldn't hurt."

"Well, you remember it hurting so it does," Mira replied.

"Can you prove this is only a memory?" Scarlet asked.

"Uh, I don't know," Mira said.

"You're Scarlet, that's Preston Rolfe. Preston is a Major Guardian and the future head of the Pokésouls division, of which I am a part. I haven't actually ever met Scarlet before, but I heard that she's a Dragonite Pokésoul."

"Half of that is nonsense and the other parts you could have found out," Preston said.

"You both hate Nature's Guardians?" Mira offered, her statement turning out like a question.

"Preston has a Charizard. And a Vanilluxe," Wolf said. "That makes ice cream."

"What exactly would you want us to do if you're telling the truth?" Preston asked suspicious.

"I can get you out if you just take my hand," Mira said. "I need you to be touching me to pull you out."

"If they resist we could try tackling them," Wolf suggested.

"I'd rather not," Mira said, giving him an uncomfortable look.

"Well, if that'll get you out of here," Scarlet said as she walked over. She took Mira's hand. Preston got to his feet and took Mira's other hand. Mira pulled them up and away from the memory. Wolf wasn't touching her, but since he was free from his prison already he was able to go where he wanted without her help.

The cave faded and Preston and Scarlet aged into the forms Mira knew. Once they were back on the psychic plane, Preston and Scarlet released her.

"That was strange," Scarlet commented.

"What was that?" Preston asked.

"I'm not sure," Mira replied. "There seems to have been a psychic event that trapped us all in our minds. I can return you to your bodies now if you want."

"What about everyone else?" Scarlet asked.

"I can stay and try to help them," Mira said.

"I don't understand any of this, so do what you feel is right," Preston said. "Send us back now. We need to see what's happening outside." Mira nodded and mentally pushed the two out of the psychic plane. They vanished.

"Do you want to go back now?" Mira asked Wolf.

"Not if you're staying in here," Wolf replied.

"It's less dangerous for me," Mira said.

"If you stay, I stay," Wolf replied. Mira was clearly relieved by this and nodded thankfully. "Let's go see who else is in here!" Wolf exclaimed picking a random direction.

* * *

Lucinda woke to the sound of coughing. It wasn't what woke her, she was used to the sound at this point. She slid out of bed and went to her brother, the source of the sound. "Ewan, are you alright?" Lucinda asked. Her brother gave her a wan smile and coughed again.

"I'm fine Lucia," he assured, though the cough that broke up the sentence gave away his lie.

"I'll get you some water," Lucinda said. She went into the living room hearing her father talking on the phone.

"I need the medicine," he was saying. Lucinda remained hidden in the hallway. "Please, I know I can't afford it." Lucinda looked down sadly. She knew the medicine her father and brother needed was expensive. And being born in the lower level, the only work they could really get was in the power plant, but that work was too strenuous for her father or Ewan. Lucinda did her best there, but it wasn't enough. Her father continued to beg for money and Lucinda knew something had to change. She would earn more money. No matter what she had to do. Her father and her brother were good people. They didn't deserve this.

With this decision Lucinda felt a bit odd. She knew suddenly, they would call her the Red Neck. She was good at what she did. This right now, this wasn't real. "A memory," Lucinda said. She walked out the door, ignoring the confused call of her father. She'd earned money, she'd kept them alive, and now? She finally had people working on creating a cure for them. It wasn't for nothing. Lucinda had done right by them. This wasn't a bad memory. Not anymore.

Lucinda walked away from the house and continued on until the darkness of the lower level faded into a strange vortex.

* * *

Sky was on a mission. Get in, kill the target, get out. Nothing she hadn't done countless times before. Easy. Much too easy. Sky felt like she had actually done this specific mission before. _This feels familiar, _Sky said as she broke in through a window, sliding silently in.

_I had that feeling too actually, _Locke said. _What do you suppose is going on?_

Sky was half-way to the door, but stopped. _Well, if I've already done this once, I'm not doing it again, _Sky decided. She turned and went back out the window. Locke joined her on the ground and they shared a confused look.

_What should we do? _Locke wondered.

_I don't know, _Sky admitted. _If we really have done this before, we either went back in time or we're in a memory of some kind. _

_I doubt we traveled in time, _Locke said.

_It's a possibility! _Sky defended.

_I didn't say it wasn't. _

_Fine. Anyway, if this is some sort of memory, let's just go somewhere we didn't go during this! _Sky exclaimed. With that, Sky turned around and opened the front door of the house. The scenery dissolved around them into a swirling void. _That's why I avoid doors, _Sky commented.

"Sky?" Sky turned at her name and found Lucinda.

"Hey Red!" Sky greeted. "Were you in some weird memory land too?"

Lucinda nodded. "I got out a few minutes ago. I'm not sure where I am now though."

"Yeah, this definitely isn't one of my memories. Unless it's a dream or something."

"This is the psychic plane," a new voice explained. Sky turned to find a girl with a Gardevoir that she recognized as being one of the Guardian Force people. Sky hadn't bothered to learn her name.

"The psychic plane?" Lucinda repeated. "What is that?"

"It's the place where thoughts exist. It's the medium we use for telepathy. It's not normally a place people can walk around in like this, but the fight between Razan and I seems to have unleashed so much psychic energy that's its become a place people's minds can actually travel," psychic girl explained.

Sky blinked. "Okay, let's pretend like that made sense. Now how do we get out?"

"I can get you out," psychic girl replied. She raised her hands up and waved them slightly at Lucinda and Sky. The two drifted and Sky felt consciousness tugging at her. She woke.

* * *

Kai found herself typing away at the keyboard, easily getting into personal files and finding the data she wanted. She wasn't entirely sure why she was hacking at this particular moment, but that wasn't very uncommon. She had so much fun finding out people's secrets and getting the evidence to put bad people away that she often became lost in a hacking daze. This one felt a bit different, but she shrugged it off and continued to look through the files.

"Figures you'd be hacking," someone muttered.

Kai whirled around to see Mira and some boy she didn't recognize. "Mira?" Kai said. "You look older? Er, I don't mean that in a bad way!"

"I am older," Mira said. "You're stuck in a memory Kai."

"A memory?" Kai said in confusion.

"Yes, and I can get you out. Take my hand." Mira reached a hand out. Kai really wasn't sure what was going on, but Mira had never done anything to make Kai doubt her. Kai reached out a hand and her room dissolved into a strange nothingness filled with color.

"Where is this?" Kai wondered. "What's going on?"

"We're rescuing people!" Wolf said, making a heroic pose.

"I can send you back to your body now," Mira said.

"Preston already knows everything so he can fill you in," Wolf added. Mira waved her hand and Kai fell back into her body.

* * *

River sat outside her mother's door. She didn't say anything. Neither did her mother. Then again, her mother really didn't talk much at all anymore. Now that River's father was dead her mother simply didn't seem to have the will to do anything. Sitting here though, River felt slightly closer to her than elsewhere. She could almost pretend they were in the same room.

The maid walked down the hallway, a tray of food in her hands. She smiled at River, the expression tinged with pity, something River hated. She wasn't to be pitied, her mother was. River was in complete control of herself. She was sad of course, but she hadn't lost the will to live.

"Mistress?" The maid called out, tapping quietly on the door. There was no answer. There never was. The maid entered anyway. River didn't, her mother had made it clear she didn't want to see her. The maid left the room holding a tray that had been for River's mother's lunch, the food mostly untouched.

_She's not getting better is she_? River mused.

_Sorry_, Mist said. _Maybe she's still suffering from the illness. _

_No, she's better now. If she still had it she'd be dead...like dad_.

_I could prank her_, Mist offered.

River smiled slightly, but shook her head. _You'd probably scare her so much that she'd jump out the window never to be seen again_. It was said in jest but something in the statement gave River an intense sense of déjà vu. _She's still there, right?_ River asked cautiously.

Mist blinked at River, then faded through the wall. She returned shortly and confirmed, _She's still there. _

_Then why does it feel like she's left before?_ River wondered. _Do you feel it too?_

_I do_, Mist confirmed. _She disappeared one day. Except that never happened. Did it?_

_The maid, she left too. We haven't seen her in years. This isn't real._

_You think this is in our heads? _Mist wondered.

_I think it might be, _River said. _And if it is, we can get out. _River willed herself to wake up, to know that what she was seeing wasn't real. It took several minutes, but after both her and Mist challenging the validity of what they were seeing, the memory began to fade. Her present circumstances rushed back as the memory faded and River gave a sigh of relief. _I'm glad I didn't have to relive everything again. _

_Me too, _Mist agreed. _Where are we? _Mist looked around at the strange place they were now in. There wasn't any real ground, both were simply floating in some sort of colorful void. This combined with the memory led River to the conclusion that they weren't physically there. It was all mental. Knowing that didn't help her much though.

_No idea, _River replied, feeling excited at the newness of the place. _Let's explore! _She picked a random direction and began walking.

As they walked the colors began to fade and River found her feet on dirt and the world around her filling itself in. They appeared to be in the Outerlands, thought River wasn't certain what area they were in. _Where do you think this is? _River wondered. She continued walking, though her pace had slowed considerably.

_Another memory? _Mist replied. _Though I don't recognize this place. _

A river blocked their way and River began to follow it. As she did, she began to hear voices. There was a group of people standing at the base of the water and River noticed some were from the town watch. _I don't think this is one of our memories, _River said. The sight of a young boy with red-tipped white hair only increased this assertion. "Volke," River murmured.

The boy turned at his name and observed her, his expression blank. River recognized the blankness as hiding grief. "What happened?" River asked gently.

"My parents," Volke said, waving at the cluster of people.

_...They're dead,_ Mist explained, able to see over the crowd from in the air. Volke turned away from them, clinging to Volt as he watched the group of people.

_What do we do? _River wondered. There was no reason for this Volke to listen to her, he didn't know her yet. The thought of him not knowing who she was sent a wave of sadness through her.

_I don't know, _Mist replied. _Can we convince him it's not real? _

_I'm not sure how,_ River said.

"River?" River blinked and towards the feminine voice.

"Starlight?" River replied in surprise. "How did you get here?"

"This isn't your memory?" Starlight asked.

"No, it's Volke's," River said. She gestured to the smaller version of Volke.

Starlight nodded and walked to the sad boy. "Volke?" she said.

Volke glared at her. River felt an unexpected feeling of smugness that he still liked her more when he didn't know who she was. "What?" Volke demanded.

"We want to help," River cut in. "We can get you out of here."

"Out of where?" Volke wondered, his voice lacking some of the hostility it had towards Starlight.

"You'll see," Starlight said, she held out a hand. Volke looked at it suspiciously and glanced towards River who gave him an encouraging gesture. He grabbed Starlight's hand. The scene at the river faded and the three were in the vortex again.

"What is this?" Volke asked, snatching his hand back from Starlight.

"The psychic plane," Starlight replied. "The others can explain." She made a waving gesture at them and River felt warmth engulf her as the vortex faded again.

* * *

Kirtus sat at his desk, monitoring the output of the plant. In his hands were pieces of metal that he was piecing together idly. He wasn't making anything in particular, he was just tinkering. Sometimes the best things he made were what he made when he wasn't trying to make anything in particular.

"Here's your lunch Kirtus," Christina said, handing him his sandwich. She looked pleased that he wasn't sleeping for once.

"Thanks," Kirtus said. She smiled and went off to continue her tasks. He unwrapped his sandwich and began eating. Most found the work at the power plant boring and well, it was really, but Kirtus loved it. Everyone there was family and Kirtus loved them. Something about the work today was making him feel almost melancholy and he wasn't sure why. It was the same as always, so why did he feel sad?

"Kirtus," A female voice said. Kirtus turned to the speaker. He didn't recognize her at all. She was standing with a boy he didn't know either.

"Are you supposed to be here?" he asked, a bit wary. There weren't supposed to be any new workers at the plant.

"Not really," the woman admitted.

"You're not supposed to be here either," the boy interjected.

"What does that mean?" Kirtus asked.

"This is a memory," Mira said. "It isn't real."

"This isn't real," Kirtus repeated doubtfully.

"We're stuck in your mind. I can get you out," Mira promised.

"How would you do that?"

"Just take my hand," Mira said, holding her hand out to him. Kirtus wasn't sure he trusted her, but he didn't see the harm in simply taking her hand. He reached out and suddenly his head felt much clearer. The power plant faded and they were drifting through a colored abyss.

"How did I end up here?" Kirtus wondered.

Wolf shrugged. "Some sort of psychic thing. We're not really sure. Everyone seems to be here though."

"Christina?"

"We haven't found her yet."

"I'd like to find her."

* * *

Christina lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. She should be getting ready for work. She should, but she just couldn't get up the energy. This happened sometimes.

"Christina," her grandfather said. "You don't have to go."

He had never wanted her to go to work so young. She appreciated the sentiment, but he was too old to work down there. One of them had to work, if they didn't they wouldn't be able to afford to keep their house. "I'm going," Christina assured. She sat up and changed into her work clothes. Ever since her parents disappeared things had been much harder. Her grandfather kept offering to get a job but Christina knew he was too old to go out and work. He had a frail constitution and sending him to work in the lower level was the same as sending him to get sick. Christina was too young to be working, but at least she could do so without getting sick.

She grabbed her Flygon's Poké Ball off the desk and went down the stairs. Her grandfather wished her a good day as she walked out the door. She headed to the plant down streets she knew very well. The sight of the power plant sent a strange sense of longing through her which was strange. She was here every day, why would she be happy to see it? She ignored the feeling and walked in the door.

She got to work on her rounds checking on the Pokémon when Kirtus appeared with a man and a woman. "Kirtus?" Christina said. "Why are you over here?" He didn't seem quite right either. He looked too old.

"It's time to go Christina," he said. He held out his hand.

"Go where?" Christina asked as she took his hand. The green haired girl grabbed Christina's hand as well.

"Back." The plant faded into the background and Christina felt the fog lift from her mind.

"What? What was that?"

"It was your memory," Mira replied. "I'm going to send you two back now."

"What about everyone else?" Kirtus asked.

"I'll go and find them. You need to make sure everyone out there is safe." She gestured and a glowing light appeared. Christina couldn't tear her eyes away from it. It felt warm, and right. She reached out towards it and found herself waking up.

* * *

"I'll be back soon!" a woman said as she left the small family home. Finally, he had the house to himself. Eclipse waited a few minutes to be sure his mother wasn't returning, then he dropped his book on the table and walked up the stairs.

His eyes stared at the door he wasn't meant to open for a second before he pushed it open defiantly.

_Are you sure about this?_ Zorua asked.

_Yes_, Eclipse replied. _I want my mind to myself, don't you?_

_I don't care either way._

_Well I want my own mind and this is the way to do it._

Eclipse entered the room and gazed in awe at all the books surrounding him. These were his mother's magical tomes and ones she didn't want Eclipse to mess with. He was sure though, that he could do it. That he could sever the link between him and the Pokémon that prevented him from having any thoughts to himself. Pokésouls were abominations and Eclipse didn't want to be one.

_You start over there_, Eclipse ordered.

Zorua complied and the two quickly went through the books until Eclipse found what he was looking for. _This is it_!

The page said that it was a severance spell and that it could sever any mental connection to one's mind. Eclipse studied the drawing until he was sure he had it memorized, then put the book back and began going through the ingredient jars his mother had until he had the proper items the spell had asked for.

_Let's do this_, he said to Zorua.

The boy and the Pokémon made their way outside to an empty clearing away from the town and Eclipse drew the diagram in the dirt. He stood atop it and held the herbs in his hand. He glanced at Zorua who was a silent presence in his head. Even when Zorua wasn't really thinking of anything Eclipse could still hear him. It wasn't right. With these thoughts, Eclipse tossed the herbs into the air and said, "Sever!"

An intense pain racked his skull and Eclipse fell to his knees, biting back a scream. It _hurt_, but that meant it was working right? His eyes had closed in shock and he lay on the ground, shaking. After a while the pain stopped and Eclipse dared to hope it had worked. Was he free?

_Zorua_? He asked. No response. With excitement, he opened his eyes. Then something exploded. The tree in front of him was being blasted with dark energy. He averted his gaze to the ground which immediately caught fire with the black energy.

What's happening? He wondered in panic. Everywhere he looked was eaten by darkness. Finally he clasped his hands over his eyes. The sounds of destruction stopped. He opened them. Destruction began. He closed them.

_What did I do_?

"Eclipse!" His mother screamed. He heard her footsteps and then he was in her arms. "What happened?"

"I tried to break the bond," Eclipse admitted.

His mother held his face in her hands and he could feel her mind touching his. "It didn't work," she told him gently. "Your bond seems even stronger now." Eclipse slumped at the words. "Why did you want to break your bond?"

"I want my mind to myself," Eclipse said.

"But Zorua is your partner. He's a friend."

"But dad always says-"

"You shouldn't always listen to what your father says," his mother cut off gently. As they spoke she had continued gently probing his mind and now her presence withdrew. "I've never seen anything quite like this. You seem to have a permanent link to Zorua's powers now."

"What does that mean?"

"Before you chose when to use Zorua's powers, now it's always connected. Open your right eye."

"No!"

"I promise it won't hurt. Just keep your left one closed."

Eclipse slowly opened one eye. No darkness appeared. Finally able to see without causing destruction he saw Zorua, unconscious on the ground. No wonder he hadn't answered.

"Your bond is linked to your left eye now. If you open it..."

"I won't," Eclipse promised. His mother stood and Eclipse did so as well. She picked up Zorua and led Eclipse back to the house. "I'm sorry," Eclipse said softly.

"I'm not the one who was hurt," his mother replied. "I didn't want you to go into the library for your protection. I'm not mad Eclipse, but this isn't something I can fix for you. Maybe you'll meet someone one day who can, but I'm not good enough to fix it."

She led him back into the forbidden library and told him to stay put. She returned a moment later with a bandage and drew a circular symbol on it. She then said, "Bind." She carefully covered Eclipse's left eye with the bandage and secured it in place. "This will do until we get something permanent," she said.

"What does it do?"

"As long as you're wearing that over your eye it will be safe to open. With my help I can teach you to control the link as well, but it will be difficult."

"I don't want to control it! I want it gone!"

Eclipse's mother sighed, then nodded. She reached forward and touched his forehead. The stinging sensation behind his eye eased, though didn't vanish completely. "This isn't permanent, but it will deaden the bond. It doesn't block it completely, but if you do open your eye it won't be as bad."

"I just wanted to be normal," he said quietly.

"Being a Pokésoul is a good thing," his mother said. "You shouldn't want to be normal." Eclipse looked sadly at his feet.

Starlight stood at the back of the room feeling uncomfortable in a way she hadn't in anyone else's mind. She had meant to grab him earlier, but had gotten swept up in the intense feelings of the memory. At least she knew what was wrong with his bond now though.

_When he tried to break it, it bound itself tighter, _Gardevoir commented.

_And now they can't separate themselves at all, _Starlight added. She walked towards Eclipse. It was time to get him out of this. "Eclipse," Starlight said. "It's time to go."

Eclipse looked at her in surprise. "Who…? Starlight?"

"Yes, that's me," Starlight replied with a smile. It was nice to be recognized. "I'm here to get you out."

"This isn't real, is it?" Eclipse asked.

"It happened at one point, but it's not happening right now," Starlight replied. She held out a hand to him. He took it and the memory faded away. "Go back to your body now," Starlight said.

"What about you?" he asked.

"I need to make sure everyone's out. I'm the best chance they have."

"There are other Psychic Pokésouls," Eclipse protested.

"None as skilled as me," Starlight said. "You need to go back out and make sure everything's okay out there." Eclipse scowled, but he nodded.

"Fine," he said. "But you had better come back."

"I will," Starlight promised. She gently pushed him away and he faded from the psychic plane, returning to his body.

* * *

Christopher and Vieara walked along the lower streets of Celadon. They were walking the alleys searching through the dumpsters, but they'd yet to find any good food yet. _I'm hungry, _Vieara whined.

_Me too, _Christopher sighed. Life had never been easy for him. Well, that wasn't entirely true, before he was five his life was great. He barely remembered most of it, but he could still remember the lavish lifestyle he and his family had had if he concentrated hard enough. Everything after that had been terrible though. At least he'd found Vieara so he wasn't alone anymore. He felt bad sometimes though, if she'd been bonded to someone else she wouldn't have to live like this. She could have a partner who could actually take care of her.

_I wouldn't want to be bonded to anyone else, _Vieara said, sensing the direction of his thoughts.

_Thanks, _Christopher replied.

_Here! _Vieara exclaimed. She was half-way inside a dumpster and jumped out holding a white paper bag. She handed it to Christopher who opened it to find a bunch of day old bread. The two exchanged grins and began to devour the food.

"Christopher?" a male voice said. Christopher and Vieara both stiffened and turned.

"Who are you?" Christopher demanded. He knew instantly that neither the boy nor the girl he was with were from the streets. They were too well dressed. Probably from the upper level.

"I'm Wolf, this is Mira," the white-haired boy replied.

"This is a memory," Mira said. "We came to get you out."

Christopher looked around. "This doesn't look like a memory."

"Oh!" This exclamation was from a new person. "I wasn't expecting to see you here." This was apparently directed at Wolf and Mira.

"Starlight," Mira said. "I wasn't expecting you either."

"What do you want?" Christopher demanded.

"We want to help," Starlight said. "This is a memory that you're stuck in, we came to help you out of it."

"How?" Christopher asked. He didn't really believe them, but at the same time something about them seemed oddly familiar.

"Just take my hand," Starlight said. Christopher shrugged and did so. The street, and the bread, faded away leaving them all in the psychic plane. "You should all go back," Starlight said.

"But I can help," Mira protested.

"I know, but there were a lot of people on the base," Starlight said. "If we try to get all of them you'll get stuck here."

"But you're staying, if you stay you'll get stuck," Mira pointed out.

"But if you're out there you can help me find my way back," Starlight replied. "Go back."

Mira looked concerned, but finally she nodded. "Okay," she said. She grabbed onto Wolf and Christopher and the three faded from the psychic realm back into the physical one. Starlight continued on alone.

* * *

Liliana was in the middle of a fight. This was a common occurrence, she fought fairly often. She was well known as the best fighter in her town and was often challenged by visitors who also happened to be Pokémon trainer.

Her current opponent was particularly weak and Liliana's Arcanine was basically fighting by itself. A few minutes in, Liliana felt a sense of déjà vu. _Have we fought him before_? Liliana wondered. She studied the kid she was fighting. A year or so older than her, a recent visitor of the town and certainly no one she'd met before.

_This fight does seem familiar, _Percy replied_. I feel like we're supposed to be doing something else, _he continued.

Liliana returned her Arcanine and walked away from the fight, ignoring the other kid's demands for an explanation. _Let's see what's going on_, Liliana said.

She and Percy wandered back into town, and the further they went from the fight, the more indistinct everything became. Eventually, everything completely dissolved and they were standing in a strange colorful void. _What is this_? Liliana wondered.

"Liliana!" A voice said. Liliana turned to see Starlight.

"Starlight," Liliana said. "What is this?"

"This is the psychic plane," Starlight replied. "Everyone's gotten stuck inside their own memories."

"So that was a memory," Liliana mused. "Everyone's trapped?"

"I've gotten most of our friends out," Starlight replied. "I still need to find Blake though."

"Blake? Can I help?" Liliana asked.

"Sure," Starlight said with a shrug. "You're going back after that though. Come on." Starlight led Liliana through the colors.

* * *

Blake walked out of the school building, his mind buzzing. He really had trouble focusing on all the pointless things they had to learn about. His real parents were dead. His adopted ones were too. What did it matter who the first president of the Republic was? He and Nami had more important things to worry about. It was Blake's turn to go to the store, he and Nami took turns, so he took a left at the corner instead of the right with would lead to his house.

He hefted his bag up higher and settled into his normal rhythm. He'd almost completely zoned out when someone said his name. He snapped out of his daze, confused. Blake was by no means unsociable, but he didn't tend to relate to most people his age, so who could be calling him? Ren seemed equally confused and the two turned towards the voice. A man stood there, someone Blake had never seen before.

"Blake Salem?" The man repeated.

"Yeah?" Blake asked.

"I need you to leave the city."

"What?" Blake demanded, instantly turning aggressive. "I'm not leaving!"

"You are," the man refuted. "You're leaving and joined Nature's Guardians."

"Nature's what?" Blake repeated.

"We're in the shadows now, but soon everyone here will have heard of us," the man said, a smirk on his face.

"I'm not joining you," Blake reiterated, turning away.

"You don't have to," the man said. "Of course, what happens to Nami will be your fault," the man said.

Blake froze. "Is that a threat?"

"Nami's on her way home from school," the man said. "Look." He pulled a tablet out of his bag and showed it to Blake. The screen showed Nami and Yuki walking down the street towards their house. "Another agent is watching her and if you don't join us, she will attack."

Blake stared at the screen in horror. He had to leave, he couldn't let anything happen to Nami. She might never forgive him for abandoning her, but at least she'd be alive to hate him. "Fine," Blake said, his voice tight. "I need to get my things though."

"Someone will meet you in the city-town tomorrow," the man said. The man vanished into the night.

_We're going to leave?_ Ren asked.

_We have to_, Blake replied darkly.

_Nami will still have Yuki,_ Ren said reassuringly. _And you still have me._

Blake put his hand on Ren's head. _There is that_, he said fondly. He walked towards his house in a daze.

"Blake!" A voice yelled. It was a different one this time, but still unknown. Blake instantly stiffened.

Two girls stood before him. "Who are you?" He demanded.

"We're here to help you," the older one said.

"Help me? How?" Blake replied disbelieving.

"We can take you to Nami," the younger one said.

"Is that a threat?"

"A threat? What?" The older one said surprised. "Of course not!"

"None of this is real," the younger one informed. "Come with us and we can get you back to reality."

"What?" Blake said confused. He didn't understand this ploy at all, he'd already agreed so what did they want?

"Just take my hand," the older girl said. She reached out to him. He took it immediately, he didn't want to put Nami in any danger.

When he took the girl's hand, the city faded into strange colors. "What is this?" Blake wondered.

"It's really too difficult to explain right now," Starlight said. "You two should go back to your bodies now." Liliana and Blake nodded and Starlight made a sweeping gesture at them. Blake felt something warm enveloping him and then he was awake. He opened his eyes and turned to see Liliana waking as well

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Fine," Liliana replied.

"Thanks for coming to help me," Blake said.

"Why did you think we'd hurt Nami?" Liliana wondered.

"Nature's Guardians threatened her," Blake replied quietly. Liliana put a hand comfortingly on his arm. Blake smiled thankfully back.

* * *

Razan's memories washed over him in the psychic plane. Was the man in the cell the same boy he'd befriended years ago? Had things changed so much that he'd hurt someone he'd cared for? He didn't know anymore. He just wanted the people in the Outerlands to stop dying.

"Razan!" There was a voice calling his name. It kept yelling at him, he wanted it to stop. He should just stay here, in the peace. It was peaceful here. Pain blossomed in his mind and he jerked awake. He stared at the sky confused. Erika was above him, but he couldn't feel her mind. He reached for Hypno instinctively, but he couldn't reach.

"Hypno?" he said in confusion.

"There," Erika said, pointing to the unconscious form of the psychic Pokémon. Razan crawled over to the Pokémon, lying next to the annoying Guardian Force officers. "We need to go," Erika said.

"I can't feel him," Razan said, panicking.

"We need to go," Erika repeated, releasing a Pidgeot she'd grabbed from one of the unconscious members. She'd return it when they were done. "Carry them," she ordered the Pidgeot. The Pidgeot squawked and grabbed Razan's Hypno. Razan robotically grabbed the Pidgeot and the bird took off. Razan could tell that Hypno was alive, but for some reason he just couldn't feel it in his mind.

"I can't reach him," Razan muttered again.

Erika watched Razan staring desperately at his Hypno and felt bad that part of her hoped that their bond actually was gone. They had started out with good intentions, but she knew things had gone wrong. She would never abandon Razan though. She couldn't. Maybe with this, they could get back to the way things were though. Maybe they could see Wolf again. Maybe.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry some were really short, I didn't have a lot of inspiration for everyone. I hope you found those at least somewhat interesting! (This is 26 pages btw, how come I can't write this much when I have school papers to do?)  
**


	40. Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

**I feel like this chapter's kinda meh, but whatever. Hope you like it anyway! **

* * *

Chapter 36: Aftermath

* * *

Pecha and Nami were the first to wake up. Pecha got to her feet and looked around at the unconscious bodies of people littering the base. Nami gasped slightly and backed up to a wall, looking around nervously. "Are they still alive?" she asked.

"I think so," Pecha replied. She leaned down to Christina and felt for the girl's pulse. It was strong. She checked Kirtus as well. "These two are both fine. I think everyone is just stuck in the same place we were."

"That was so weird," Nami muttered. She got to her feet, brushing herself off and straightening her hair. "We should check out the rest of the base."

Pecha nodded. "And keep an eye out for Razan. If we can get him while he's unconscious that would be good."

They stood at the door, but looked back to their unconscious friends. "We can't just leave them," Nami said. "I could leave my Glaceon."

"That's a good idea," Pecha replied. "And it looks like Kirtus has some Pokémon. They should be fine since they weren't out when the wave hit." Pecha knelt by the boy and released his Pokémon. A Crobat, Vaporeon, Togectic, and Lucario appeared. The Togectic and Lucario seemed more concerned about Mira than Kirtus which was a bit confusing, but Pecha figured as long as they cared about one of them that was good enough. "Keep an eye on them please," Pecha asked. The Pokémon all gave barks of recognition.

Nami released her Glaceon as well. "Please look after them," she said to it. "When they wake up come back to me." The Glaceon nodded. Nami and Pecha gave their friends one last look, then walked towards the center of the base. The sleeping people and Pokémon were more concentrated here. Zap was having trouble navigating through the people without accidentally squishing anyone.

"Over there," Nami pointed. Pecha turned and saw the flutter of wings as a flying Pokémon vanished into the clouds.

"You don't think that was..." Pecha said.

Yuki shot out after it. The Frosslass returned a few minutes later. "She couldn't catch up," Nami explained.

"They were going pretty fast," Pecha consoled. Yuki still seemed down, but brightened slightly at the words. They walked through the people and reached where strike team one must have been fighting with Razan. There was no sign of Razan, which only increased Pecha's feeling that it had been him who escaped.

_If he got away this was all for nothing, _she sighed.

_No, we still won, _Zap disagreed. _Even if he did escape, we took his people from him. Without them, he's just an angry psychic Pokésoul. We've got one of those. _

Pecha thought of Wyvrn and laughed. _Yeah, I guess you're right. _

Nami was checking on Starlight and Eclipse. "They seem fine," Nami said.

"That's good," Pecha replied.

"Hey! Pecha! Nami!" Zyra called. The wild girl ran, heedless of the people she stepped on, and got to them. "That was really weird, right?"

"It was," Nami agreed. Nevin and Typhlosion followed Zyra, though they were both much more careful about where they stepped. Nami was kneeling by Scarlet when Scarlet suddenly sat up, startling the quiet girl. Preston stirred as well, sitting up and holding his head.

"Are you guys okay?" Pecha asked. Preston's eyes snapped towards her.

"We're fine. Where's Razan?" Pecha shrugged. Preston got to his feet and looked at an empty spot on the ground.

"He should be there," Preston said.

"We, um, we saw someone fly off after we woke up," Nami said. "We're not sure who it was."

"You think he escaped?" Scarlet asked. Preston scowled.

"We still took the base," Zyra pointed out. "Who cares if one guy got away?" Preston continued scowling, but nodded.

"How many people are awake?" he asked.

"No idea," Pecha replied. "As far as I know, it's only us. Starlight was staying in to try to get everyone else out."

"Starlight woke you?" Scarlet asked. Nami and Pecha nodded. Preston took in the surroundings and returned his unconscious Pokémon. A trip to the Pokémon Center should fix them. "We were woken by Mira and Wolf," Scarlet informed.

Wyvrn walked into view followed by Gina. "So I see you're all awake," Wyvrn said.

"Wyvrn," Preston greeted. "Have you seen any of the upper members of Nature's Guardians?"

"No," Wyvrn replied. "We saw Erika during the fight, but she left before the wave hit. I don't know where she went."

"I didn't see either," Gina added. "She told everyone to give up."

"So what do we do with all these people?" Zyra asked.

"They're not bad people," Nami said. "They're misled, like Blake was."

"Not all of them," Wyvrn said. "The ones who attacked the city knew what they were doing."

"Only a few people did that," Scarlet replied. "Most of these people didn't want to destroy the city, they just wanted the people out here to be safe."

"Did they even do anything other than attack the city?" Wyvrn asked.

"They did fight the raiders as well," Scarlet said. "Most people here weren't aware about the anti-city strikes."

"Then we should arrest them for being fools," Wyvrn said.

"And being brainwashed?" Gina asked.

"We'll decide what to do with them later," Preston said. "First we need to make sure our people are okay."

"We're not okay!" Kai screamed, running towards the gathering.

"Kai?" Pecha said.

"The wave did something to the levitation engines and now we're hovering, but we're going to run out of energy! I don't wanna fall I hate heights." Her ranting trailed off into a strange blurring of words.

"Are you alright?" Nami asked. Kai shook her head vigorously.

"Is there a way for us to charge the engines?" Preston asked.

"I don't know!" Kai exclaimed.

"Something's wrong with the engines?" Kirtus asked, appearing with Christina.

"Kirtus!" Kai exclaimed. "Save us!" she begged, grabbing onto the sleepy boy. Christina gave her a strange look while Pecha and Gina smothered laughs.

"Kai, you probably need to get off him to show him the engines," Preston said though he was clearly amused.

"Right, fine," Kai grumbled. "The computers are this way." She set off followed by Kirtus and Christina.

* * *

Kai led Kirtus and Christina down the trap door where their friends were still unconscious. Volke was passed out at the base of the ladder, making it difficult to get down without stepping on him (Kai didn't bother to try). River and Christopher were both slumped over consoles. "It's this one," Kai said, grabbing River's shoulder and moving her to the floor. Kai wasn't particularly strong so it was more of shoving the other girl out of the chair, but she wouldn't know any better. Kai could just tell her she fell that way when she passed out.

Kirtus sat down at the console and began pressing some buttons. "I see what you mean," he said finally. "River must have hit something when she fell asleep," he theorized. "The base is fighting the air current and burning up all its power."

"How were they getting power in the first place?" Christina wondered. "Did they use Pokémon too?"

"Probably," Kirtus replied.

"Of course, they'd all have fallen asleep when the wave hit," Kai said.

"So what can we do?" Christina asked.

"We can't stay in the air much longer, but I think I can control our descent so we don't break too much," Kirtus said, squinting at the screen.

"You do that," Kai said, backing up. "I'm going to go hang out with Scarlet – she has a Dragonite!" Kai bolted out of the room as Kirtus began messing with the various engines of the base.

* * *

Kai returned to Preston's group to find that they'd picked up Lucinda and Sky. Pecha and Sky were glaring at each other and, strangely enough, Lucinda seemed to be trying to make them get along. Kai walked over, surreptitiously putting herself next to Clarissa.

"Can Kirtus fix the engines?" Preston asked. "If not we'll have to try evacuating."

"He thinks he can fix it," Kai replied.

"Should we start evacuating anyway?" Nami asked.

"Not a good idea," Wyvrn replied. "Moving them from where they fell asleep will make it harder for them to return from their memories. Besides, there's no way we'd ever move all these people."

"So we just wait and hope?" Zyra demanded. "There has to be something we can do."

Pecha walked over to the edge of the base. "Don't walk over there!" Kai called. "It's dangerous!" Pecha ignored her. There was a fence around the edges of the base and Pecha leaned on it to get a look over the edge.

"It looks like we're going down," Pecha called out. Zyra joined her, hopping up on the fence and making Kai squeak in fright.

"At least it looks empty down there," Zyra mused. "No trees to squish."

"Or houses," Pecha added.

Eclipse gave a sudden intake of breath drawing everyone's attention. Kai couldn't take her eyes off of Zyra, who was still perched on the fence but now facing in. Pecha leaned casually on the fence next to her. Eclipse sat up and immediately went to Starlight.

"You're awake," Wyvrn said.

Eclipse looked at him. "Starlight's going to try and help everyone. It's dangerous!" Eclipse yelled. "You should help!"

Zyra snorted. "If he went in there to get people out they'd all scream and stay in their memories forever."

"I wouldn't trust him," Sky agreed. Wyvrn seemed pleased by this assessment rather than bothered.

"Point taken," Eclipse grumbled. He sat at Starlight's side, gently lifting her head into his lap.

The base geave a sudden jerk, jostling Zyra on her perch. Pecha quickly steadied her. "GET OFF THE FENCE!" Kai cried. "I can't take it anymore!"

Zyra gave her a confused look but did so. Nevin looked relieved along with Kai.

* * *

River woke to find herself lying on the floor. She sat up and found Kirtus in the seat she'd been occupying before the psychic wave. "Ow," she grumbled, rubbing her head.

"Are you okay?" Kirtus asked. "Kai shoved you onto the floor."

"Kai," River muttered, making a note to get revenge on her later.

"What are you doing?" Volke asked. He had already gotten to his feet and was leaning against the wall.

"The engines were running out of power so I'm taking us down faster than planned," Kirtus explained, followed by a huge yawn.

"Want me to take over?" River offered, Kirtus's sleepiness making her a bit nervous.

"I got this," Kirtus assured, though the droopy tone of voice really didn't inspire confidence. "The others are all out there."

River was curious to see what was going on, so she took the out. Volke followed behind her.

* * *

Volke and River approached the group of Guardian Force officers and their friends to find them in the middle of a discussion. Wolf and Mira seemingly had arrived just before them.

"We need to make some sort of plan," Kai said. "What are we going to do with all these people?"

"Most of them are pretty innocent," Scarlet pointed out. "We can't punish them for being fooled or blackmailed."

"But some did know what they were doing," countered Wyvrn.

"Alex did," Zyra agreed.

"But if you start arresting everyone here that's just going to make people in the Outerlands more angry," Pecha said. "As bad as this place is, it really is the only thing that protects anyone out here."

"Did it ever actually help people?" Kai wondered.

"It did," Gina said. "Most people agree they went too far, but they did protect some towns from raiders."

"We can't let them get away with attacking the city," Wyvrn said.

"You can't arrest them all either," Nami retorted. "If you do you have to arrest Blake and that's not happening."

"No one's arresting Blake," Zyra agreed.

"We need to talk to everyone and arrest those who were complicit in crimes against the city," Preston said.

"There are a lot of people here," Wyvrn said. "That will take a long time."

"And won't they all just plead brainwashed?" Pecha asked.

"Starlight should be able to tell if they were brainwashed or not when she retrieves them," Wyvrn said.

"You can't destroy an idea," Wolf said. "Razan took things too far, but the points he made about the city ignoring and abusing Outerlanders wasn't wrong."

"We can decide how people act on that idea," Preston said.

"Meaning?" Wyvrn asked.

"We make Nature's Guardians a division of the Guardian Force."

"But the whole point was to take down Nature's Guardians," Wyvrn groused.

"The point was to remove the threat to the city," Kai corrected.

"We'll still arrest the ones who attacked the city," Preston said. "But those who had nothing to do with that can do what they originally joined to do."

"Helping people," Mira surmised. Preston nodded.

"So who's going to lead it?" Kai wondered. "Not Wyvrn."

"No one from the city," River said. "Putting someone from the city in charge is just going to make people mad."

"I'll do it," Zyra offered, to the shock of all.

"…What?" Nami finally said.

"I'll lead," Zyra replied.

"You sleep in trees," Pecha said confused.

"So? I can sleep in trees and lead things," Zyra retorted.

"Why would you even want to?" Pecha wondered.

"Well, it sounds like they beat up raiders and protect the forests. I like doing both of those things," Zyra explained.

"I think it's a great idea," Nevin said with a grin. "Can I join?"

"Of course!" Zyra replied.

Preston was still staring at Zyra with uncertainty, but eventually he nodded. "All of this still has to be approved by the Head Guardian, but you can be in charge until we decide who will be put here permanently."

Zyra shrugged. "Works for me."

"_Zyra _is now one of the most powerful people in the Outerlands," Pecha whispered to Nami.

"She's a good person," Nami replied, though she seemed stunned as well.

"Now we need to get all these people up," Preston said. "Is there anything we can do?"

"I can help from this side," Mira replied. "But mostly it's up to Starlight. There isn't anything any of you can do other than keeping their bodies safe really. And try not to move anyone too much. Starlight's fine, but the others should be left alone." With this said, Mira walked to the nearest group of slumbering people and knelt down, gently pressing her hand to the form's face. Wolf wandered over to stand watch.

Eclipse picked up Starlight's sleeping body and turned to Scarlet. "Is there a room I can put her in?" he asked.

"Yeah, there are a bunch of rooms in there," Scarlet said pointing at the orange building. Eclipse nodded curtly and walked away cradling Starlight in his arms.

"We should send someone back to the city right? And off of this flying horror?" Kai asked hopefully.

"I need to go back," Preston said. "I have to tell headquarters what happened. YOu should start the interrogations while I'm gone." Kai slumped over at this.

"Fine," she mumbled. "I'll stay on this death trap."

* * *

The base made it safely to the ground (much to Kai's immense relief) and Kai, Wolf, Wyvrn and Scarlet continued interviewing the members of Nature's Guardians as they woke. Unfortunately, they woke more quickly than they could be interviewed and some of the guilty members certainly escaped. Lucinda and Sky vanished after the base landed, though Lucinda told Pecha she'd 'be around' which made Pecha slightly nervous.

They found that most of the members of Nature's Guardians were innocent, or at least seemed that way, though they did find sone who were guilty. Plus the ones who escaped custody were likely guilty as well. As they suspected, Razan had escaped. So had Erika. Preston sent people out to search for them, but the Outerlands are big and they had a head start so no one had particularly high hopes of that paying off. They had caught Xero, however, so they weren't completely empty handed.

The base itself had landed in a field in Hoenn, in what was actually a fairly centralized location. They were going to continue using the base where it had landed for now as it was actually a well-built base and there really wasn't any point in building a new one.

Zyra was officially instated as the temporary head and was already planning out all the places she was going to plant trees on the base. Most of the members who hadn't run away accepted this change with either happiness or indifference.

It took several days for Starlight to wake everyone and Eclipse never left her side.

* * *

Starlight woke to find Eclipse at her bedside. "You're awake," he said, his surprise and happiness showing for a moment before he covered it up with his normal petulant expression.

"How long has it been?" Starlight wondered.

"Over a week," Eclipse replied. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Starlight said. "Still here." She moved to get up and stumbled. Eclipse caught her and helped her stand. Apparently not moving for over a week made it hard to stand.

They walked outside and Starlight was greeted by a small Pokémon. "Victini!" Starlight gasped. It chittered happily at her. She knelt at its side and the creature told her – through Gardevoir – about how Altair had locked it away because Victini helped Millennium stay in control. Wolf had set it free while looking for hidden people. "I'll bring you to Millennium," Starlight promised. Victini made more happy sounds. Starlight turned to Eclipse. "Is there any food around here?"

"Yeah, this way," Eclipse said, leading Starlgiht towards the dining area.

* * *

A few days after Starlight woke, they'd interviewed all of the personnel and they had done everything that urgently had to be done at the base. Preston was prepared to leave again and most were going with him. They were all at the edge of the base preparing for the flight.

"Well, I guess I'm staying here," Zyra said to the group. "I'll see you all again later."

"I'm staying too," Nevin added quickly.

"I think I'll stay too," Liliana said, though with less conviction. "I know some of the people here and I can help smooth things over."

"Well Zyra, it has definitely been interesting traveling with you," Pecha said.

"If I ever need needlessly long explanations I'll come see you," Zyra replied. Pecha and Zyra exchanged a friendly nod, then Pecha exchanged a less friendly nod with Nevin and went to find someone willing to share a flying Pokémon.

"Bye Zyra, Nevin," Nami said. "Thank you so much for helping me find Blake." Nami bowed in thanks.

"No problem," Zyra said. "That's actually kinda what my job is now. I have a job! How strange is that?"

"I'm sure you'll do well," Nami assured. "Goodbye."

"No, it's see you soon!" Nevin corrected with a big grin.

Nami smiled back. "I suppose it is. See you soon!" Nami walked away.

"Liliana, here's a phone in case you ever need anything," Scarlet said, handing a phone over to the younger girl. "Or if you just want to talk."

"Thanks," Liliana said gruffly, staring at her feet and generally avoiding eye contact. "You got me into a lot of trouble, but I suppose it was nice meeting you."

"It was nice meeting you too," Scarlet replied with a bit of a laugh.

"Here's my number too," Blake cut in, handing over a piece of paper. "I'd like to stay in touch."

Liliana looked up at this. "Me too," she said. Then she turned and went inside the base staring at her feet again.

"Bye!" Scarlet called out. Blake just looked amused and went to join Nami.

* * *

The flight back to the city felt shorter than the flight to the base without all the tension of what would come next hanging over them. They all entered the city and gathered back in the Pokésoul division. Yunyi was reading a book and Shaw was typing away on a computer while a Guardian Force officer watched over him.

"Isn't that my computer?" Preston asked.

"Yep," Shaw replied as he continued to type.

"Why did you let him on my computer?" Preston asked the officer.

"He's a kid," the officer replied. Preston glared and the officer quailed.

"You're no longer needed," Preston said. The officer quickly ran out of the room. "Get off my computer," Preston ordered Virus. Shaw sighed loudly, but did so. Preston made a note to have Kai check over everything to make sure nothing was damaged. Of course, if Shaw had put a prank in there of some kind it was unlikely Kai would remove it, but if Shaw had done anything to put security at risk she'd fix it.

Starlight walked over to Yunyi and hugged the younger girl who smiled and returned it. "You're alright?" Yunyi asked quietly.

"Yep," Starlight replied. "Great!"

"She wasn't," Eclipse grumbled.

"I was fine," Starlight scoffed.

"Right," Eclipse replied unconvinced.

"Everyone, I just wanted to thank you all for what you did to help us bring down Razan and his people," Preston said, bringing the room into silence. "You've done a great service for Lumiose and the entire republic. If any of you want to join the Guardian Force now, I'm sure you'd be welcome."

"I think I proved I'm not cut out for this," Kirtus said.

"What are you going to do?" Christina wondered.

"I'm going to go back to the Eastern plant," Kirtus replied. "I'm sure they could use help rebuilding."

"That sounds like a great idea," Christina said with a smile.

"I'd like to join the Guardian Force," Blake said.

"I'm not," Pecha said. "I'm going to Jubilife to fix up my father's lab."

"I don't want to join either," Nami said. "I've had enough adventure for now. I could use a break."

"Can I bring Millennium home or is she going to be imprisoned here?" Starlight asked.

"She's an odd case because of her disorder," Preston said. "Because of it I think we can send her with you, but you'd need to keep a close eye on her. If Altair escapes and hurts anyone it will be on you."

"That's fine with me," Starlight assured. "I'd like to take her home, I think it will help." Victini looked up and nodded at Starlight.

"I'm staying on as ambassador to the Mages' Guild for now," Gina said. "I suppose I'll be here fairly often."

"Well I'm headed back to Celadon," Christopher said.

"We can offer you a salary," Preston offered.

"Nah, I'm used to my life now," Christopher said. "I don't feel like dealing with rules." He and Vieara vanished out the door.

"Bye Christopher!" Gina called out after him. She saw him send a lazy wave back at her.

"I suppose I'll leave now as well," River said. "I wanted to make sure everything was finished, but it seems like it is. I'll talk to you soon Kai. It's always nice to see you in person."

"You too," Kai said with a grin, hugging her friend. "Have a nice trip back!"

River walked out and Volke followed. "Where's he going?" Wolf wondered.

"After River," practically everyone else in the room replied.

"Oh," Wolf said.

"I need to leave soon too," Starlight said. "It's not that long until nightfall."

"Right, I'll help you talk with Sena about Millennium," Preston said leading Starlight out the door. Eclipse followed as did Yunyi after Starlight gestured at her.

"Well, I guess I'll head out too," Pecha said. She paused, "Uh, not to impose on anyone, but does anyone have a room I can stay in for a while? The lab is kind of… uninhabitable."

"You can stay with us," Nami offered.

"It's fine with me," Blake agreed. "We have plenty of space."

"Thank you!" Pecha said. The three left and others began filing out.

Eventually the only people in the room were Shaw and Kai. "So what'd you do to his computer?" Kai asked.

Shaw grinned. "Take a look and see if you can find out. Unless you're afraid I'm better than you."

"No way!" Kai refuted. "I'm the best!" She sat at the computer to investigate, though she kept an eye on Shaw to make sure he didn't disappear.

* * *

Mira and Wolf walked down the street, ostensibly heading to their respective houses, but they weren't in any hurry to get there. "Razan and Erika got away," Mira said gently.

"I know," Wolf replied.

"Are you…sad you won't get to talk to them?"

Wolf thought about it for a moment. "It's probably better I didn't get a chance," Wolf said. "I don't think I want to hear their justifications. Right now I feel like the people I knew in the past are different than the ones we fought with. I'd like it to stay that way."

Mira nodded and put a hand reassuringly on his shoulder. "I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks. I'd like to keep it to myself for now." The two continued on companionably down the road.


	41. Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

**I don't know how many years later this is. Not too many, but more than 1. Here is the epilogue though, I hope you enjoy it! **

* * *

Epilogue

* * *

_A few years later…_

_**Kai POV**_

Change doesn't happen overnight. It happens slowly and takes years. What we did though, what Razan started, it did change things. He wasn't right in his actions, but it did point out the issues in our society. Zyra's new leadership of Nature's Guardians is working to help the Outerlands and prevent someone like Razan from ever having a reason to come to power again. They were going to appoint someone else as the leader, but Zyra was so well-liked that they actually left her as the leader. I don't think anyone (except for Nevin probably) really expected her to do that well. Zyra and Preston talk often and they've formed a strange sort of friendship no one really understands, not even them.

I still spend my time doing recreational hacking, um, I mean, I spend my time working for the Guardian Force! I still have the old bar maid job, though I had to change bars because I got fired from my last one. It wasn't my fault I had to keep taking time off to save the city from a crazy man! Of course I couldn't explain all this to my boss. What a jerk. I may have hacked his computer to play obnoxious music every time it turns on. I admit to nothing.

I haven't kept in touch with everyone. Blake I see pretty often now since he joined the Guardian Force. Wolf is still here of course. He still asks questions about basically everything and makes me want to slap him. So, in other words, he's still Wolf. Even if he does remember his childhood now.

Preston is still the head of the Pokésoul division. Word is he's being considered for the Head Guardian position. He's a bit dubious about it, mostly because he thinks they're only considering him because he happens to know both the influential figures in Nature's Guardians. He and Scarlet have a son now, Vaughn. Vaughn is adorable, but for some reason they don't trust me to babysit. It's very insulting! I would be an amazing babysitter! It _may_ have something to do with the time I almost burned by house down because I was so distracted by my computer I forgot the oven was on, but that was _one time_! ...Anyway, Wyvrn is his same glorious self, though I think he's actually become a lot less abrasive over time. Or I just got used to him. He and Gina are pretty good friends apparently. I don't know how she can stand him, but everyone has their own preferences I suppose. We see her around pretty often as the ambassador to the Mage's Guild. She's been learning more from Scarlet too. They currently are trying to use their magic to help people, hoping that it will gradually get people used to it. I don't know if it's working or not.

Christopher helps out sometimes, but he still lives in Celadon. I don't know if he's still homeless or not, he's pretty secretive. It's possible he just doesn't want me going to his house. Shaw works with the Guardian Force now. It was that or jail, he chose wisely. He's not actually all that bad, despite his past. Wyvrn hates him of course, but warching the two of them argue brings a lot of entertainment to my day.

Mira has gone back to her dancing career. Funnily enough her being involved in this whole mess has skyrocketed her popularity and she's actually a bit of a celebrity now. None of the rest of us are of course. Sure we're vaguely known, but no one ever comes up on the street and asks for _my_ picture. We're all just grouped together as 'the people who took down Razan' plus Mira! Anyway, Mira, right. She's gone back to dancing but she's branching out into modelling and acting sometimes too. She's even thinking about writing an autobiography, which, actually would probably be pretty interesting.

The new and improved Nature's Guardians seems to be going well. It's still pretty disconnected from the Guardian Force and Zyra tends to just do what she wants. She and Preston talk though and they seem to be agreeing mostly about things. Mostly what Zyra wants to do is take out raiders and protect the environment so she hasn't required much managing. Nevin is there of course, he's one of Zyra's advisors. I really don't talk to him much at all, but I've heard he's doing well there. Mostly he is used to pacify people at crime scenes with his friendly nature.

* * *

**_Christina POV_**

I'm working as Kai's apprentice right now. I'm not technically employed by the Guardian Force, but I think I'll end up there pretty soon. I don't like hacking nearly as much as Kai does, but I like helping people. Helping the Guardian Force just feels right.

Kirtus went to fix up the power plant after everything. He wanted to go back to the people he remembers. He ended up making quite a name for himself there with his inventive solutions and when they finished the repairs he opened his own store where he sells gadgets he makes. Volke and he exchange ideas sometimes, possibly the strangest friendship I've ever seen.

* * *

_**Nevin POV**_

Zyra is still leading the new Nature's Guardians, and doing an amazing job! We help all kinds of people and the raider attacks have gone down significantly. The city doesn't help much, but we are officially a part of the Guardian Force, for whatever that's worth.

Alex showed up oneck, said, "Sorry about before and I'm glad you recovered." Then while I was staring in surprise he took off. I told Zyra but she didn't think it was important to go after him. I agree, bad people don't apologize for the bad things they do, so Alex can't actually be all that bad. He must've been confused like the others.

I'm one of the upper level members, but I'm still no good at fighting. I mostly handle recruiting, apparently I look really trustworthy. Zyra has trouble being patient enough to answer people's questions.

Liliana is working here as well and has been a great worker. I hear that she still talks with Blake and Scarlet pretty frequently, so sometimes I get news about our friends in the city through her. She's a bit prickly, but in her heart she's a super nice person!

Eclipse is pretty similar to Liliana, except I still haven't gotten through to his nice side yet. I'm sure I will eventually, I just have to work at it! He and Starlight joined over a year after we brought down Razan. They'd gone back to Starlight's home town originally, Starlight because she wanted to take care of Millennium and Eclipse followed for some reason. I assumed it was because he liked her but he kept mentioning he had a problem he needed help with. When Zyra joked it was his broken heart he attacked at her, so I'm careful not to say things like that. Although they are together now, so Zyra was probably right anyway.

* * *

_**Starlight POV**_

Millennium is mostly alright now. She still has lapses into Altair, but they're more controlled now. I think Victini being around helped more than anything I did really. So did Sunny and Luna. My parents were a bit uncomfortable around her, but I think they're getting better now. I was planning to stay there to help, but Millennium insisted I should go do what I wanted to do. And I did want to join Nature's Guardians. I never really wanted to leave my village before all this, but now that I know what's out there, what the world faces, I really want to be a part of it. I've taken over the majority of the negotiations with the city as Zyra is not very good at them. She usually starts off complaining about how ugly the city is. The government doesn't recognize the Outerlands as having a representative, but that's basically what I am now. It's not what I ever pictured myself doing, but now that I am I find I really like it.

Eclipse and I are still working on fixing his injured bond with Zoroark. It's getting better, but it's going to take a while yet to fix all the damage, if that's even possible. I guess that means we're stuck together for a while, good thing I don't mind that! He doesn't seem to either hehe.

Yunyi jouned Nature's Guardians with us and I've basically adopted her as a new little sister. She doesn't do much for the Nature's Guardians yet, but she's going to be a great agent for us one day. I know it. She's already better at most things than a lot of people and she's still so young. I can't complain about the whole Razan incident, after all I got a piece of my old family back and I started a new one as well.

* * *

_**Pecha POV**_

I always had this vague sort of dream. Continue my father's work, whatever that meant. I just knew I couldn't do that in Cornflower. There was this address written in his journal and I always thought, what if I could go there? Of course it turned out to be a dusty old lab with a bunch of stuff I didn't understand in it, not the pristine picture in my head, but things in life rarely turn out as we expect.

I've gotten the lab cleaned out and Nami offered to teach me how to use all the different technology, which I've mostly gotten the hang of at this point. Sometimes I miss the simplicity of the Outerlands, but I love my new life. I'm finally continuing my father's research into Pokésouls, so I suppose I accomplished what I set out to do.

Nami's actually helping me out in the lab as well. Since she was helping me understand all the computers and things she ended up helping me with my research in the beginning, then decided she actually liked doing it and kept helping.

* * *

_**Lucinda POV**_

Pecha's been holding up her end of the deal. The scientists she hired have made significant progress and they believe they can cure the disease before too long. I can't wait to see Ewan's face when I tell him about the cure. For now, I'm continuing my work with Sky. After they complete the cure though? Well, I guess I'll figure that out when it happens.

* * *

_At the party celebrating the defeat of Razan_

On the weekend of an anniversary of the defeat of Razan, the city of Lumiose threw a celebratory party. Of course, it had to be set during the day so that the Outerlanders being honored didn't have to be arrested for being in the city after dark. Something which peeved Zyra, but Starlight convinced her to go along with it.

Pecha uncomfortably smoothed her dress down, unused to the fancy clothing. "I feel like a doll," she complained. She was wearing a long, dark green dress and her blue hair had been styled into some sort of complicated bun Pecha was already dreading trying to take out. The worst was the shoes of course, evil death heels. This was the last time she went shopping with Kai and Mira.

"You get used to it," Nami assured. She was wearing her outfit with much more grace than Pecha. Her dress fell to her shins and was a pale blue touched with darker blue spots. Her regular ice gem necklace hung around her neck, but it seemed fancier with her outfit. Yuki floated around Nami's head and appeared rather bored. Zap hadn't even been let in and the Luxray was keeping up a continuous grumble of complaints in Pecha's mind. She was fairly used to this though and easily tuned out her partner.

"I'm excited to see Zyra," Nami said.

Pecha tried to stifle a laugh and mostly failed. "Did they get her in a dress too?" Pecha wondered.

"Last I heard Kai was going to meet her, so probably."

"Pecha! Nami!" Kai greeted, running towards them despite her attire. She was wearing a deep red dress that was very similar to her normal clothing. Pecha wasn't sure it wasn't her normal outfit actually, but it didn't look out of place in the formal atmosphere. "You two look so nice!"

"So do you," Nami said politely.

"I hate my shoes," Pecha complained.

"But they look nice," Kai countered. Pecha gave her an unimpressed look "I suppose you could always take them off and throw them at Preston. It's always fun to see what expression he makes when something completely ridiculous happens."

"I think I'll wait until more people are drunk before I do that," Pecha said.

Kai sighed theatrically. "You're boring. Have you seen Zyra yet?"

"Not yet," Nami replied. "Have you?"

Kai grinned hugely. "You should get excited."

At those words Pecha saw the person in question. Zyra's expression was twisted into obscene unhappiness and she was carrying a pair of strappy heels in her hands. Her dress fell to just above her knees and was a dark brown color. Her feet were bare (presumably she'd been wearing the shoes earlier) and it was clear someone had tried to fix her hair. Tried, and failed. It was now sticking up in a few different directions and looked about as angry as Zyra herself did.

Pecha immediately started laughing and tried to stifle it with her hand. Nami hid her grin more successfully and Kai's Cheshire Cat smile somehow became even larger. "That makes wearing this worth it," Pecha gasped out between laughs.

Zyra stormed over to them and glared at Pecha, who hadn't quite stopped laughing yet. "Something funny?" Zyra demanded.

"Kai told us a funny joke," Pecha replied.

"Right," Zyra said disbelieving. "What was the joke?"

"It's not funny now," Pecha said.

"Zyra!" Nevin exclaimed, narrowly avoiding tripping over people as he got to them. "You ran off!" He accused. Nevin looked much older in the suit he was wearing, though he didn't quite get rid of the innocent atmosphere that always surrounded him.

"Sorry, I had to pick a fight with Pecha," Zyra replied. Nevin walked over to her side and put his arm around her.

"You're fighting with Pecha?" Nevin said in confusion.

"It's not a real fight," Pecha assured. "And if it's any consolation, I feel like you look," Pecha offered to Zyra.

"It's been such a long time since we've seen each other," Nami said. "I'm glad you're looking well. How have you been?"

Zyra shrugged. "Not what I ever thought I'd be doing with my life, but hunting raiders and protecting nature is something I care about."

"Zyra's doing an amazing job!" Nevin exclaimed.

"And you're not biased at all," Pecha replied.

"Well. I mean, uh," Nevin stuttered.

"That's adorable," Kai laughed. "You've been dating for a few years now!"

Zyra patted Nevin's hand on her shoulder. "His innocence is part of his charm," she said. "Have you guys done anything interesting? I mean, you haven't been fighting raiders so none of your stories will be as good as mine."

"If I told you my stories I'd have to kill you," Kai said mock-seriously.

Zyra scoffed. "Yeah, you could try."

"I've been thinking about holding some classes to teach Pokésouls to use their powers," Pecha said.

"Huh. Sounds boring," Zyra replied.

"Hey Kai!" Wolf greeted as he walked up to the group. He was in a suit, but his lazy demeanor and messy hair still somehow gave off an air of casualness. The girl on his arm, however, was the best dressed by far. Mira's green hair had been pulled up into a pattern of twisted braids and her dress was a mixture of swirling colors Pecha didn't quite understand but somehow looked amazing.

"Wolf, Mira," Kai greeted. "Mira you should make Wolf dress better. He's not fancy enough for your image."

"I like him the way he is," Mira replied with a smile.

"You look beautiful Mira," Nami complemented.

"Thanks," Mira replied. "You all look lovely as well."

"How did you get your hair to do that?" Wolf asked Zyra. Mira shot him a quelling look, but he just grinned unrepentant.

"I don't know," Zyra said. "It just ended up that way."

"It's very impressive."

"I heard that you're writing an autobiography," Nami interrupted. "How is that going?"

"It's not easy," Mira replied. "I'm really not a writer. Of course I have a lot of exciting events to write about so at least I don't have to worry about needing to come up with ideas."

"I've written some research papers, I doubt it's anything like writing an actual book but if you need some science terms I'd be glad to help," Pecha offered.

Mira chuckled. "Thanks, but I think anything you write might be a bit more than my intended audience can handle."

"Where's Blake?" Nevin wondered. "I figured he'd be with you." She directed this to Nami.

"We drove here together but he went to talk with Liliana." Nami pointed to where her brother was talking with the Outerlander.

"Oh right. They talk all the time don't they?" Nevin said.

"Yes they do," Nami said with an amused expression on her face.

"Blake should come out and join us," Zyra said. "Then they could talk face-to-face more often."

"He's happy where he is right now," Nami replied.

Zyra shrugged. "You could come."

"I'm happy where I am too," Nami replied.

"Which is working with Pecha?" Zyra said. "How can you stand that?" Pecha shot her an offended look.

"It's actually really interesting studying Pokésouls," Nami said. "There's so much I didn't know before, and so much I still don't."

"Yeah whatever," Zyra said. "I know what I need to know."

"Hey, is that Christina and Kirtus?" Kai asked. Everyone looked over and stared, not realizing this might seem weird.

"Are they together? Or..._together_?" Wolf asked.

"Nicely worded question," Kai replied dryly.

"You mean they might be dating?" Nevin said, eyes going wide.

"They've been mooning over each other for long enough. It's about time," Zyra said.

"You knew they liked each other? Why did you tell me?" Nevin demanded.

"I thought it was obvious," Zyra said with a shrug.

"I think they're cute together," Mira said. The couple in question had moved onto the dance floor and were fumbling their way through the fast paced dance. The tempo seemed a bit much for Kirtus's sleepy nature and he was a bit behind. Christina didn't seem to care and the two looked to be having fun.

"Want to dance?" Wolf asked Mira. She accepted with a smile and he swept her onto the dance floor.

"I want to dance," Kai complained. She looked at the group. "Hey Pecha, dance with me."

Pecha startled and said, "What?" But her protest was in vain as Kai had already dragged the girl onto the dance floor. Nami, Zyra and Nevin watched in bemusement as the enthusiastic hacker swung Pecha around in the dance.

"Pecha's actually not terrible," Zyra said in surprise.

"She probably watched a documentary," Nami commented.

"Nevin looked at Zyra, than at the dancers. "I'm not dancing," Zyra said.

"That's good, I don't know how," Nevin admitted.

"Hello Zyra," Preston greeted. "Anything I need to know?"

"We're at a party. No business," Scarlet chided.

"Right. Good to see you guys," Preston corrected.

"Hi Preston, Scarlet," Zyra replied.

"I haven't seen most of you in a while," Scarlet commented. "How have you all been?"

"Everything's great!" Nevin replied.

"I have no complaints," Nami said. "How is Vaughn?"

Scarlet's face lit up in the way a mother's face does and she began gushing about her beloved son.

Zyra tuned out Scarlet and turned to Preston. "I heard you might be becoming Head Guardian ."

"I might," he replied. "There's nothing official yet."

"Doesn't matter to me anyway," Zyra replied. "But if you do get it, don't think you can boss me around."

"I'd never think that."

"Hey, it's Christopher!" Nevin exclaimed, pointing at their informant friend. His suit was clearly a rental, and a fairly cheap one at that. The girl hanging off his arm was the bigger surprise. "Is that... Opal?!" Zyra boggled. Christopher was indeed with Opal, of Opal and Onyx the weirdo twins.

"When did that happen?" Preston wondered, his normally stoic face twisted in surprise.

"So I'm not the only one surprised by this one?" Nevin asked.

"Definitely not," Zyra assured. Christopher and Opal made their way over and he gave them a casual smile.

"Hi there," he greeted.

"Hello," Opal said politely.

Preston, Zyra, and Nevin all returned the greeting somewhat robotically. "Are you and Opal..." Preston cut off the question.

"Christopher helped my brother and I find information on our missing father," Opal replied. "We got to know each other during the investigation." She was one of the people who had been brainwashed, but once it had worn off, she and her brother turned out to still be completely weird. Her tone was still rather robotic, though the lack of her brother made her a bit more palatable.

"Your father?" Nevin repeated. "What happened to him?"

"He was the reason we had joined Nature's Guardians," Opal explained. "He disappeared and they said they would kill him if we didn't join."

"Turns out their father disappearing was unrelated," Christopher said. "They just used the timing to make it _sound_ like they had him."

"When we discovered this we tried to leave."

"And were brainwashed," Preston concluded.

Opal nodded. "It is good to see you," Opal said to Zyra. "My brother and I were hoping we could rejoin Nature's Guardians."

"Really? Well yeah, that's fine with me," Zyra replied. "You may not see Christopher much."

Christopher shrugged, clearly unbothered. "We're not very serious right now," Opal said.

"Is Onyx here?" Nami wondered.

"Over there," Opal said. Nami followed the gesture and saw Opal's twin standing awkwardly by the punch bowl. "I should probably join him," Opal said. Christopher went with them, sending a jaunty wave behind him. Scarlet had apparently stopped gushing and Nami looked slightly dazed at all the stories she'd been told.

"We should probably be going," Preston said. "We don't want to leave Vaughn for too long."

"It was nice catching up with you!" Scarlet exclaimed. "Let's keep in touch!" Zyra shrugged, but Nami and Nevin said that they would sincerely. The couple left. Pecha and Kai had apparently left the dance floor and were now speaking with Christina and Kirtus.

Christina had felt uncomfortable in dresses the first time she'd worn one, but Kai had taught her the ways of undercover work and gotten her comfortable wearing all kinds of different styles of clothes. She was always the most comfortable in her practical clothing, but she could at least fake ease.

Her current dress was actually pretty comfortable and she felt that the vibrant green color really brought out her eyes. "You two are so cute together," Kai said. Christina fought down the instinctive blush.

Kirtus smiled lazily and said, "I know we are. Anyone caught your eye yet?"

"Well, I just forced Pecha to dance with me, but other than that no."

"I'm not dancing with anyone else," Pecha said quickly. "My feet can't take it."

"You need to practice," Kai replied.

"For the very few times I'll need the skill in my life?" Pecha asked.

"It's an important skill! Right Christina?"

It wasn't, but Christina was enjoying the argument. "Very important," Christina agreed.

"Has anyone seen Volke yet?" Kirtus asked. "I was looking forward to talking with him."

"But you two talk all the time," Christina pointed out.

"Not in person."

"Video calls are almost the same thing."

"I fall asleep less often when I'm talking to them in person," Kirtus said.

"I think you're the only person with that problem," Christina replied.

"I think that's him there," Pecha said pointing at a foreboding figure. Volke hadn't even bothered to put a suit on and was wearing his normal dark coat. River was dressed nicely and the dichotomy was rather entertaining. The two were speaking with Gina and Wyvrn. Christina's group wandered over to talk.

"Hi Volke," Kirtus greeted.

"What's up River?" Kai asked. "It's been a while!"

"We're inviting everyone to our wedding!" River exclaimed.

"You're not married already?" Kai wondered. "You sure act married."

"You're not invited," Volke said.

"What?" Kai yelled. "I have to go!"

"Am I invited?" Christina wondered.

"You're Kirtus's girlfriend. You're invited," Volke replied.

"He's invited and I'm not? River fix this!"

River shrugged helplessly. "I don't want us to have a fight right before our wedding," she said jokingly. "I can't invite someone he doesn't want there."

"What about them?" Kai demanded, pointing at Gina and Wyvrn. "Are they invited?"

Volke looked them over, then nodded. "Yeah, you two can come."

"As if I'd want to go to a wedding," Wyvrn groaned.

"I'm going," Gina said. "Weddings are so beautiful!"

"...Maybe I'll go," Wyvrn relented.

"Am I invited?" Pecha wondered.

"Yeah, you can come Pecha," River said. "If you see Nami and Blake before I do you can invite them as well."

"Alright. I'm looking forward to it," Pecha replied with a smile. "I'm not wearing these shoes to it though."

"I can't believe this," Kai said dejectedly. "I'm the only one not allowed to go."

River gave Volke a look and he sighed but nodded. "Alright, you can come if you really want to," River said.

"Yes!" Kai exclaimed, jumping in excitement. Some of the others around gave her an odd look, but Kai ignored them. "It's going to be great!"

Kai began planning their wedding, Volke pointedly ignoring her, and River nodding indulgently. Volke and Kirtus began to talk about their different gadget ideas and Christina struck up a conversation with Gina and Wyvrn. Pecha drifted away to find Zyra and Nami again and found them talking with Blake and Liliana.

"Hi Pecha," Blake said when he saw her.

"Hey," she replied. "Nice to see you Liliana." Liliana gave her a wave. She was wearing black dress pants and a nice purple top. Her headphones were missing for once.

"I've been told to tell you that you're invited to Volke and River's wedding," Pecha announced.

"They're not already married?" Zyra asked. "Huh, I really thought they were."

"I knew about that one," Nevin said proudly.

"You truly are a wonderful detective," Blake said sarcastically.

"Do I have to wear a dress to the wedding?" Zyra asked.

"Well, it'll probably be in the Outerlands so I doubt it," Pecha replied. "All these fancy dresses and things are mostly a city thing."

"But I will have to wear one to Wolf and Mira's wedding?" Zyra wondered. "What about mine? Do I have to wear a dress? If so I may never get married."

"I don't care if you wear a dress," Nevin said quickly.

"You don't even have to have a ceremony if you don't want," Pecha reassured. "There are traditions, but you don't have to follow them for it to be official."

"Oh good," Zyra said relieved. "I'm hoping that this will be the only time I ever have to wear a dress."

"Well I doubt that, but you can avoid it in some situations," Pecha replied.

"I'm not even wearing a dress now," Liliana pointed out.

"I wasn't told that was a choice!" Zyra complained.

"Volke didn't even bother to wear a different coat," Blake remarked.

Zyra growled in annoyance and tossed her shoes in the air where they would've hit Blake were it not for his skilled dodging.

"It's Starlight and Eclipse!" Nevin exclaimed, pointing at the two. Starlight was flitting around sociable while Eclipse followed behind her, glaring at any man that stared at her for too long. He actually wasn't wearing his eyepatch for once though the eye it normally covered was a strange amber color.

Starlight saw Nevin waving and came over. "Hello everyone!" She greeted.

Her greeting was returned. A younger girl walked up beside Starlight and Pecha looked at her confused. Then she abruptly realized who it was.

"Yunyi?" Pecha asked.

Yunyi nodded shyly. "Hello."

"You're so much taller!"

"Oh, I didn't recognize you!" Nami exclaimed. "You've grown so much."

"Yep, our little Yunyi, all grown up," Starlight said, throwing an arm around the smaller girl.

"Did you hear about Christopher and Opal?" Nevin demanded.

"Christopher and Opal what?" Starlight asked.

"They're dating," Zyra said.

"They're what?" Starlight said. "Christopher and _Opal_?"

"That was basically my reaction," Zyra said.

"Christopher and Opal?" Blake said in surprise.

"That's a surprise," Liliana said.

There was a series of dings and silence fell over the room. Their attention was drawn to the presentation of the day.

The presentation went on for far longer than Eclipse would have liked and he left a Starlight to go be bored in the hallway. He didn't want to bother her with his fidgeting. In the hallway, he found two others had done the same.

"Eclipse," Wyvrn greeted. Volke gave him a nod.

"You got bored too?" Eclipse asked.

"That was dull," Volke replied. "Is it still going?"

"With no signs of slowing down."

"Gina and Christina actually seemed interested," Wyvrn said in horror.

"So did everyone I was with," Eclipse said. "Well, not Zyra."

"I think Kai anew River were trying to hack something. If they succeed it may be worth seeing," Volke said.

"How have you been?" Eclipse asked. He wasn't one for small talk, but it was better than being bored out of his mind inside.

"River and I are getting married," Volke said.

"You weren't already married?" Eclipse said in surprise.

"Everyone keeps saying that," Volke muttered.

"I assume Starlight will want to go," Eclipse said. "So I guess I'll be there."

"I will probably be going as well," Wyvrn said.

"What have you been doing?" Eclipse wondered. "I don't hear about you much."

"Beating up criminals," Wyvrn replied.

Eclipse nodded. "I beat up raiders." The two shared a look of camaraderie.

The doors behind them opened and people began to spill out. The trio backed up to the wall so that they wouldn't be swept away and waited for their friends to come out. Starlight latched onto Eclipse's arm as soon as she saw him. "Have fun?" She asked. He shrugged. The others all crowded around them and soon everyone except for Preston and Scarlet were there. And Lucinda and Sky of course, even if someone had _wanted_ to invite a mercenary and an assassin they wouldn't have been able to find them.

"Anyone want to give a speech?" Kai joked.

"I can talk about how we need to crush all the raiders," Zyra offered.

"Not really the mood I was going for," Kai replied. They talked for a few minutes, but they all had to go their separate ways soon enough.

They made a very strange group. A group of people who by all rights shouldn't have even met, but here they were. Maybe they weren't all friends, but they were all bound by fate. They would go their separate ways again after tonight, but it wouldn't be the last time they all saw each other. Fate still had things for them to do.

* * *

On a building across the way Sky watched the people leaving. "I can't believe we weren't invited," she complained.

"If we were it would have been a trap," Lucinda pointed out.

"It's still hurtful," Sky replied. "We helped!"

"You also blew a hole in their wall."

"They don't know that." They watched as the people dispersed and Sky straightened up. "I guess the show's over. Back to work?"

"As long as we get paid."

* * *

**Final Note:**

**Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed this whole time, you're support really kept me going! Thanks as well to everyone who created all these wonderful characters, I really love them :) I loved writing this story and I hope you all enjoyed it! This was really fun for me and I'm actually kind of proud of it. Thanks for all your support and I love you all! :D**

**The sequel is up now!**


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